Shazam

Do you want to watch American TV and movies without subtitles?

Today you’re studying fast English, conversational English, with the movie Shazam.

All the linking and reductions that Americans do can make it pretty hard to understand them.

When you study American English the way we will in this video,

your listening comprehension and your ability to sound natural speaking English

is going to improve dramatically.

Study like this and you’re going to be able to understand American movies and TV without subtitles.

It’s time someone looked you in the eye and told it to you straight.

We’re doing this all summer. We started in June and we’re going through August. Stick with me

every Tuesday, they’re all great scenes, and there’s going to be so much to learn

that can transform the way you understand and speak English.

And as always, if you like this video or you learned something new, please like and subscribe with notifications.

You’re going to watch the clip, then we’re going to do a full pronunciation analysis together.

This is going to help so much with your listening comprehension

when it comes to watching English movies and TV.

But there’s going to be a training section.

You’re going to take what you’ve just learned and practice repeating it, doing a reduction, flapping a T,

just like you learned in the analysis.

Okay, here’s the scene.

Foster home in Pittsburgh reported you missing two weeks ago.

You’re sending me back?

No, they don’t want you.

Harsh.

You laugh, but you’ve run from foster homes in six counties, Mr. Batson.

From good people who want you.

All in pursuit of someone who arguably does not.

It’s time someone looked you in the eye and told it to you straight.

And now, the analysis.

Foster home in Pittsburgh reported you missing two weeks ago.

You’re sending me back?

In this scene, they’re discussing how this boy keeps running away from foster homes.

And his first question for her is, are they going to make him go back to the foster home?

You’re sending me back?

You’re sending me back?

You’re sending me back?

So we start out with an unstressed word, You’re becomes: yer yer yer, don’t put a vowel in there.

Yer yer yer, you’re sending me– sending me–

We have a stressed syllable on sen– and then the unstressed syllables, –ding me,

all come down in pitch after that peak. Sending me back?

And then this word is stressed but it goes down and up, because he’s making it a question, a yes no question.

Back? Back? You’re sending me back?

You’re sending me back?

You’re sending me back?

You’re sending me back?

He’s really making this unstressed word very quiet, isn’t he?

Make sure you’re imitating that. We want it to feel unstressed. Yer yer yer yer yer you’re sending me back?

You’re sending me back?

You’re sending me back?

You’re sending me back?

Back? This has the aa vowel.

Ah ah– might help you to make this sound if you just raise your upper lip a little bit: back, back.

Back?

No.

No. No. I love this very clear, up down shape statement. No. No.

No.

They don’t want you.

They don’t want you. They and want, are two most stressed words there.

They don’t– what happens with our two T’s here?

They don’t want you. That’s not what we hear. What do we hear?

They don’t want you.

They don’t want you.

They don’t want you.

They don’t want you. Nt. Nt. Nt.

That sound is an NT ending, stop.

So the T is a stop consonant usually when the next word begins with a consonant.

Here, it’s W, here, it’s the Y consonant,

don’t want– do you hear that little nasal squeak, and then I stop?

Don’t want, don’t want, they don’t want you, they don’t want you.

I’m exaggerating those breaks a little bit, those stops, but that’s the feeling.

Don’t want. Don’t want. It’s certainly not don’t want, don’t want.

Very often in American English, our Ts do not have that full release.

This helps us make things more smooth, and we really like smooth, linked together speech in American English.

They don’t want you.

They don’t want you.

They don’t want you.

They don’t want you.

They don’t want you.

See if you can do that and move your hand up and down on ‘they don’t want you’, on they, and don’t,

and see if that can help you get that feeling of stress.

I think it’s always a good thing to bring in our bodies to help with this. They don’t want you.

They don’t want you.

They don’t want you.

They don’t want you.

You coming down in pitch off of the peak of stress. You, you, you, you.

You.

It’s quiet, it’s subtle, don’t make it more than that. We want it to have that unstressed feeling.

You.

Harsh.

Harsh. Harsh. Harsh. Up down shape. Harsh means wow, that’s a little bit hurtful

that someone doesn’t want him back.

Of course, he doesn’t seem hurt by it. He didn’t want to be there, he ran away.

But it’s still a bit harsh for the family not to want him.

Harsh.

You laugh–

You laugh– And then she puts a little break here.

Breaking it up into a different thought group. So for you and laugh, which word is more stressed?

You laugh–

You laugh– you has a little bit of its own up down shape.

You laugh– but laugh definitely has more.

Laugh, pronounced with a light L, the AA as in bat vowel, just like back, and an F consonant.

Laugh. You laugh– you laugh–

You laugh–

You laugh, but you’ve run from foster homes in six counties, Mr. Batson.

Okay now a little bit of a longer thought group. What are her most stressed syllables?

But you’ve run from foster homes in six counties, Mr. Batson.

But you’ve run from foster homes in six counties, Mr. Batson.

But you’ve run from foster homes in six counties, Mr. Batson.

But you’ve run– a lot of stress there. But you’ve run from foster– a little bit of stress there.

Foster homes, a little bit of stress there.

But you’ve run from foster homes–

But you’ve run from foster homes–

But you’ve run from foster homes in six counties, Mr. Batson.

In six counties, and then that word, six counties, gets a lot of stress, she really holds on to that S, in six counties.

In six counties–

Mr. Batson.

Mr. Batson. Mr. Batson. His name, gets a little bit of stress. Stress is on the first syllable there.

Mr. Batson.

But you’ve run– we have a stop T in but, next word begins with a consonant, but you’ve run–

But you’ve run-

from foster homes

Run from– both lower in pitch, you’ve run from-from-what? From, yes, from, not from,

that word is reduced, F consonant, R consonant, schwa M. From, from, not from, that’s stressed.

This word is unstressed, it’s: from, from, from, from foster, from foster.

O letter there makes the AH as in father vowel.

From foster–

From foster homes in six counties–

Foster homes– foster homes in six counties–

Make sure everything’s linking together. We don’t want breaks. Foster homes. Right from the R into the H.

Foster homes in– homes in– homes in–

that ending Z sound links right into the IH vowel for in.

Homes in six counties– and then I love how she holds that out.

Holding out a beginning consonant can really stress a word. I mean, these are a lot of homes,

a lot of places that he’s run away from. Six counties.

Foster homes in six counties–

Foster homes in six counties–

Foster homes in six counties–

The letter X makes the KS sounds. Six counties.

Six counties–

Counties. Counties. What’s happening with this word?

Counties. Well, she’s dropping the T, isn’t she?

This is pretty common in NT words like: internet, interview, and so on. Counties.

Very often pronounced counties with no T.

Counties.

Counties–

Mr. Batson.

Mr. Batson. Batson. Stop T, next sound is an S. Batson.

And this also has the AA vowel. I hope you’re comfortable with that vowel because

we’ve run into it a couple times, haven’t we? Mr. Batson.

Mr. Batson.

We have a lot of names that end in s-o-n,

but it’s not pronounced like the word sun.

They’re pronounced sun, sun, you can think of it as being a schwa, or an IH.

Either sound is okay. Just make sure you’re thinking of it being very unstressed.

Son, son, son, son, Batson.

Batson.

From–

Okay this is great. She breaks out the word from while she’s thinking and even though it’s by itself,

not in the context of a whole sentence, even though she doesn’t stress it, it’s not: from, it’s: from from from.

from–

good people–

Good people. Another little break. So she’s breaking this up in two thought groups while she’s thinking,

she can’t believe that this boy would continue to run away

from homes of people who want to take care of him.

from good people–

good people–

from good people–

from good people–

from good people-

The D is not released, that would be: good people, good people, but it’s good people.

I do make the D sound in my vocal cords.

Good. But I don’t release it, it’s a stop.

Good people. I just go right into the P sound. Good people.

Good people–

Now, I know this word is tricky. People. People.

So it’s P consonant, EE vowel in the stressed syllable. People.

And then we have P, schwa, L. This is going to be a dark L.

And a lot of people confuse that with a sound that’s sort of like OH

and a lot of my non-native speakers will say peepo.

A lot of my students will say that: pepo, pepo, or something like that.

OH is made with the front of the mouth,

OHL is made at the back of the mouth. And that’s what we want. People ohl ohl.

Don’t lift your tongue tip for this. Keep your tongue tip down. People ohl ohl.

The way to make that sound is tongue tip down, back of the tongue presses down and back a little bit.

Try that now. Ohl ohl.

It’s a strange feeling, but we just touch it really briefly. People ohl ohl ohl ohl.

It’s very short, so not: people people people people.

People.

People who want you.

Who want you. Who want you. Again, peak of stress,

and the words that are not stressed lead up to that peak or fall away from it.

Who want you.

Another stop there. Who want you. Who want you.

Who want you.

Who want you.

Who want you all in pursuit–

All in pursuit– she stresses that by really drawing it out, all in pursuit– pursuit–

A little bit of stress there with a stop T. All in pursuit.

All in pursuit–

All in pursuit of someone who arguably does not.

All in pursuit of someone– a little bit of stress there, who arguably does not.

Does not want him. This would be his birth mother.

All in pursuit of someone who arguably does not.

All in pursuit of someone who arguably does not.

All in pursuit of someone who arguably does not.

All in pursuit- all in pursuit- Try that. Just that little phrase.

All in pursuit–

All in pursuit– Everything links together pretty smoothly, doesn’t it?

There’s a little bit, all in pursuit,

a little bit of a feeling of separation here to help bring even more stress to the word all.

All in pursuit– pursuit– per per per– make that P, schwa, R, per per per pursuit, pursuit.

All in pursuit–

of someone who arguably does not.

Of someone, of someone, of of of.

This is not ov, it’s of of of.

It’s the unstressed pronunciation. She doesn’t drop the V sound that can happen,

but it’s still very unstressed, very quick: of of of, of someone, of someone, of someone.

Of someone, of someone.

Of someone who arguably does not.

Someone who arguably–

So everything very smooth, right from N into W, oh sorry, into H. Who, who, in IPA, it’s just H consonant, OO vowel.

Someone who arguably– guably– unstressed syllables. Ar– guably– guably– guably– guably–

Try to make those quickly,

and without a lot of mouth movement, really simplify. Guably– guably– guably– guably–

because they’re unstressed, they’re gonna have that easier, faster, less work feeling.

Ar– we have more jaw drop, we put more length into it, guably– guably– guably–

we say those quickly. We need to simplify. Arguably. Arguably.

Of someone who arguably–

Of someone who arguably–

Of someone who arguably–

I’ll write out the IPA here. Ar– first syllable stress, gu– JU diphthong there, argu-a-bly. Arguably.

Arguably–

does not.

Our last two words, we have one that’s unstressed, and one that’s stressed. Does not.

Does not–

Not. She does release that with a light true T. That brings more emphasis to that word,

it’s very common to make an ending to a stop T when it’s at the end of a thought group, but she does release it.

So we have an unstressed word does. But it’s not does, because that’s stressed, it’s does does,

that is the same word with an unstressed feeling, lower in pitch, flatter, much faster. Does, does, does not.

Does not.

It’s time someone looked you in the eye and told it to you straight.

Okay she’s going to get serious here. So we have a couple of things here.

It’s time– first, let’s look at our stress. It’s time someone–

time has quite a bit of stress there, and that has a true T because it starts a stressed word, a stressed syllable.

It’s time someone.

What are our other stressed syllables?

It’s time someone looked you in the eye–

It’s time someone looked you in the eye–

It’s time someone looked you in the eye–

It’s time someone looked you in the eye– Looked and eye, get some stress there.

It’s time someone looked you in the eye–

It’s time someone looked you in the eye–

It’s time someone looked you in the eye and told it to you straight.

And told it to you straight. Told, straight, also get some stress there.

Again, told, that does have a true T because it begins a stressed syllable.

Told it to you straight.

Told it to you straight.

Told it to you straight.

Told it– all right, let’s look at the unstressed words and any reductions that we have.

It’s time someone looked you in the eye and told it to you straight.

It’s time someone looked you in the eye and told it to you straight.

It’s time someone looked you in the eye and told it to you straight.

It’s, flatter in pitch, but no reductions.

We still have all the sounds, IH, TS cluster: it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s time, it’s time someone.

M right into S. Again, no reductions with someone, none of the sounds change,

but it’s not: someone, it’s: someone, someone, someone, flatter, lower in pitch.

It’s time someone–

It’s time someone–

It’s time someone looked you in the eye–

Looked you in the– okay, so we have: you in the–

all unstressed, but before we talk about that string of unstressed words,

let’s look at what’s happening with the ED ending in looked.

So the rule is when the ED ending comes after an unvoiced sound like K,

that this will be a T, looked, looked, looked, but that’s not what I hear, what do you hear?

Looked you–

I hear a CH. So when a word ends in T, and the next word is you or your,

that T can get changed into a CH like in the phrase: that’s what you said. That’s what you said.

What you, what you, what you. Or here, looked you, becomes: looked you, looked you, looked you.

Looked you–

It doesn’t have to, but it does happen pretty regularly in conversational English. Looked you in the eye.

Looked you in the eye–

Looked you in the eye–

Looked you in the eye–

Looked you in the– this is actually not the schwa, it’s the EE vowel. Looked you in the- the, the, the.

The rule is it’s an EE sound if the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong. This does, its eye.

Otherwise, it would be the schwa. However, I’ve noticed that not all Americans really follow this rule.

She does here. I do hear the EE, it’s very fast.

You in the– lower in pitch, flatter, certainly not pronounced: you in the–

but: you in the, you in the, you in the, you in the.

And because of that, we can simplify this TH sound. The tongue tip does not have to go through the teeth.

And this is actually true of all of these unstressed words that begin with a voiced TH like: the, these, this.

In conversational English, we usually simplify that so we can make the word more quickly.

And rather than bringing the tongue tip through the teeth, to make a bigger, more prominent sound,

we just bring the tongue tip forward within the mouth to behind the teeth, the, the, the, the, and pull it away.

So my tongue tip isn’t pressing against the roof of the mouth and releasing, that would be a D.

We don’t want that. It’s not da, it’s de de de de.

Very subtle difference, but native speakers and native ears definitely pick up on that.

In the, in the, in the, in the, or in this case: in the, in the, in the, you in the, you in the, you in the, you in the eye.

You in the eye-

You in the eye and told it to you straight.

And told, and told, and– so the D is dropped there,

the vowel isn’t reduced, it can, it can be: nnn-and told, and told- but she says: and told, and told it, it,

everything links together really smoothly, ending d into beginning IH. Told it, told it, told it to–

So we have two words together, linked with a single true T,

and then the word to reduces to the schwa, the vowel changes as it so often does.

It to, it to, it to, told it to, told it to.

And told it to–

you straight.

And then you, also unstressed, not reduced, but unstressed before the next stressed word, so we have:

it to you, it to you, it do you, it to you, it to you, for these three unstressed words.

And told it to you–

straight.

Told it to you straight. Straight. Straight.

You know what, I hear another CH there. Straight.

That can happen with the TR cluster, like train, try. Very common when it’s just the TR cluster for it to be a CH.

And it can even happen like it does here, so it sounds like SCH, sch, sch, sch. Straight, straight, straight.

And she does release that true T. So our T gets changed to a CH sound. Straight.

Straight.

Don’t drop the R. Sometimes I have students who will take a word like train,

which we would maybe say train, with the CH, and they would drop the R. Chain, or try would become chai.

But we do need the r, the CH is replacing just the t, the r still stays. Straight. Straight. Straight.

Straight.

The word told, this can be tricky. In IPA, we would write that out with the T consonant, OH diphthong, L, D.

This is a single syllable, and the L comes after the vowel or diphthong, that makes it a dark L.

And the dark L does change that OH diphthong, it’s not tow, towld, towld, but it’s: told.

The dark L kind of takes over, doesn’t it? Tohl– the lips round, the tongue tip stays down,

but the back of the tongue pushes down and back a little bit. Tohld–

and then make the D sound. You don’t need to lift your tongue tip for the L, just leave that lift out,

because you’re going to lift your tongue tip for the D. Told. Told. Told it. Told it.

Told it.

Let’s listen to the whole conversation one more time.

You’re sending me back?

No, they don’t want you.

Harsh.

You laugh, but you’ve run from foster homes in six counties, Mr. Batson.

From good people who want you.

All in pursuit of someone who arguably does not.

It’s time someone looked you in the eye and told it to you straight.

Now for the fun part, you’ll look at the notes we took together and you’ll hear a part of the conversation

on a loop three times. Then there’s a space for you to repeat.

For example, you’ll hear this:

Maybe so, sir.

Then you’ll repeat it: maybe so, sir. Try to imitate everything about this exactly so when you see this,

then you’ll repeat it. Maybe so, sir.

That’s from Top Gun: Maverick, which was the first movie we studied in this summer series.

You’ll also have the opportunity to listen and repeat in slow motion.

This will be important for you if you’re more of a beginner,

or if you’re having a hard time focusing on linking or the melody.

Maybe you’ll want to do it both ways, but the important thing is here is your opportunity

to take what you learned and put it into your body and your own habit.

That’s what’s going to transform your speaking.

You might do well to work with the audio section of this video every day for a week.

Imitating the rhythm and the simplifications will get easier each time you do it.

If you can’t keep up with the native speaker, do the slow-motion imitation.

Okay, here’s our audio training section.

Don’t forget to come back and do this audio again tomorrow and the next day.

You want to build habits here so you don’t need to think about it so much when you’re speaking in conversation.

You can focus on the words and not the expression or pronunciation.

Don’t forget this is part of a series all summer long, 13 videos, 13 scenes for movies

check out each one, learn something new each time.

I make new videos on the English language every Tuesday and I’d love to have you back here again.

Please subscribe with notifications and continue your studies right now with this video.

And if you love this video, share it with a friend.

That’s it guys and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.