Do you sometimes feel like it's really hard for you to understand native speakers
because they speak so freaking fast?
Or maybe you want to start speaking a little faster and to play a bit more
with your rhythm so we can sound more natural and more at ease when speaking.
If that is the case, then this episode is absolutely for you because we are
going to talk about fast English.
Not understanding native speakers because it feels like they speak
fast, is a challenge that a lot of non-native speakers experience.
And I wanna give you some tools to help you deal with that.
And along the way, level up your own fluency, pronunciation, and confidence.
In this episode, I'm going to first talk about why it's so hard to understand
native speakers when they speak fast.
Then I'm going to give you some tips and exercises that you can do to
help you develop that and improve, and understand fast speakers better.
And lastly, I'm going to share a quiz to see if you can actually
And if not, then everything I'll be sharing today is going to be extremely
helpful for you to improve that.
If you are new to my channel, then hi, my name is Hadar.
And I am here to help you speak English with clarity, confidence, and freedom.
And all the things that I share with you here on my channel are things
that I have learned on my own.
And I am excited to share that with you so you can have an easier way in
reaching confidence, clarity, and freedom.
Check out my website for more at hadarshemesh.com.
Or you can find me on social media: Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
All right, so let's get started.
Why is fast English so hard to understand?
There are a few reasons for that.
In English, some sounds and words are reduced, so what you expect to hear is
not exactly what you are going to hear.
For example, if we're thinking of the phrase 'what do you
do.
you.
want?' When we think about it in writing, it's very clear.
But when we hear it, it sounds just like one mumbled word: whadaya-want?
'I am not going to go' -> 'I'm not gonna go'.
So in English, everything is reduced and connected.
Now, I talk a lot about the reasons for it.
It's the prosody of English where less important words, AKA function
words, are reduced to allow the important words to stick out.
Like content words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Also, when we think of the flow of English, we see that words are
connected together and grouped together in thought units, right, everything
within the sentence until there is a comma or phrase or a clause.
And everything there is connected, and that connection makes it hard for the
brain to understand, especially if you're used to reading the language and you're
expecting to hear the words separately.
So all of a sudden, It's not separate when you hear it.
And words that you thought you knew, like the word 'of' or 'from' all of
a sudden sound like 'uhv' and 'fr'm'.
And the brain refuses to connect what you hear to how you perceive the word
that has a completely different vowel.
Another reason why it's important, it's because it's going to teach
you how to listen and not just hear.
Okay?
There is a difference between hearing where you hear basically everything
and how you're listening, which is what you're focusing on, or how you make
sense of what it is that you're hearing.
This type of work is going to help you understand how to listen, where
to focus, how to sort out all the things that are not necessary,
and only focus on what matters.
And again, that as well is going to help you become a better communicator.
All right, so now you're probably saying to yourself, "Okay, Hadar, I
want to improve my ability to understand fast English and fast speech, and to
understand native speakers better.
So to improve your ability to understand fast speech, here
First, you need to expose yourself as much as possible to spoken English.
So, listen to audiobooks, listen to podcasts, listen to movies
and TV: without subtitles, with subtitles, with the script.
Without the script, it doesn't matter.
But you need to start training your ears to listen as much as possible.
I also recommend to listen to different speakers who speak in different dialects
because that's how real life is.
And you have a lot of different speakers, they don't all sound like the standard.
And the more you expose yourself, you increase your ability to
understand all different people around you: with different native
accents and with non-native accents.
And remember, all of that turns you into a great communicator.
The next thing, and I've spoken a lot about this: if you want to
improve your listening, it really has to go through your mouth.
So practicing your own pronunciation, practicing reductions yourself, learning
prosody – which is intonation, rhythm, stress, all of that, the melody of
the language, how we reduce words.
When you learn and practice it yourself, your brain is much more likely to
remember it, to understand it, and then for you to be able to hear it.
Now, when you learn pronunciation and prosody, focus on reductions, focus
on the difference between the stressed words and the unstressed words.
Sounds are important, but understanding how you structure an entire sentence,
how everything is grouped together, how words are connected is critical
for your ability to understand other speakers, and in particular, fast English.
I'm going to play an audio and you are going to try to figure out what they say.
And then we're gonna analyze together and break it down piece by piece.
Okay.
Open up your ears and let's listen to the clip.
Okay, let's play it bit by bit.
Okay?
Let's listen to the first chunk.
Notice that the 'going' is the stressed word, so it's higher
in pitch, it's more emphasized.
So when we listen, we listen to the keywords and we allow
our brain to fill in the gaps.
'in their faces' – right in front of them, they can't avoid her.
That's what she means: I'm in their face.
By the way, if you want, you can always slow down the speed of this
video, so it makes it easier for you to do this part of the process.
So here we have quite a serious reduction.
I'm sure you can hear the word 'talking'.
And then again, your brain can start filling up the gaps, right?
'Talking to them -> talkin' d'th'm.
talkin' d': so the T of the 'to' becomes like a 'd' sound.
The word 'them' that we expect to hear with a strong TH and then an E
sound also reduces - talkin' d'th'm.
'Follow me or know me already'.
'Follow me or know me already'.
But see how everything is connected.
The words are completely reduced, you can barely hear it.
And you might think that she's saying a completely new word - 'nomier'.
Try to break it down and try to understand what are the key words that are stressed.
And trust your brain to be able to fill in the gaps if you're not sure
of the words that you actually heard.
She really slowed down when she said the words 'Holocaust education', these
are big content words and they're absolutely stressed: Holocaust education.
'there' was completely reduced.
'now' it's stressed, so it's clear: but NOW I'm sittin' there.
Now notice what happens to the word 'about', I don't think I can
'talking about Holocaust education'.
She literally skips this word and it is okay cuz it's still clear:
'talking about Holocaust education'.
Now, I wouldn't encourage you to do that yourself.
I don't think that we need to completely reduce those function words.
But I need you to understand that this is what happens.
And I want you to start recognizing it and also trust your common sense when trying
to figure out what the person's saying.
The last part, she slows down:' and they're relating to it'.
All right, let's look at another clip.
I know it's out of context, which makes it harder, but let's listen again.
And now let's slow down the speed.
It's still a little fast: 'and then they talk about', 'and then they talk about'.
'this thing that happens', 'this thing that happens', 'this thing that happens'.
t'their' - that is absolutely reduced: t'their stomach after.
Because it is so reduced, no wonder it's hard to understand.
Let's listen to the entire chunk again.
Now, I wouldn't encourage you to say it at that speed, you don't have to.
But it's a listening practice, and we need to start paying attention to
the keywords and start recognizing what are the parts that are unclear.
And as you can see, usually the parts that are a little less
And those parts that connect keywords, but it sounds like it's just a continuation
of the previous word or the beginning of the next word, and this is why it starts
clashing and messing with our brain.
All right, last clip for today.
[audio]
I'm gonna give this to you as homework, okay?
So today we've learned what is fast English and why it is so hard to
understand native speakers who speak fast.
Then we learned why it's important to improve that.
Then I gave you some tools and tips on how to improve that on your own.
And finally, I shared a quiz where we tried to analyze fast English.
Let me know in the comments below.
If you enjoyed this video, then I have a series of additional videos about prosody,
intonation, listening, fast speech, and more that I think you are going to love.
So check all the links in the description below this video.
Thank you so much for being here.
If you enjoyed this video, please hit 'like' and subscribe if you haven't yet.
And come check out my website because I have a lot of free
stuff for you at hadarshemesh.com.
Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day.
And I will see you, whether you speak fast or slow, next week in the next video.