Steve Jobs

In the US, summer is for sun, sand, and blockbuster movies.

And this summer, we’re going to use those movies to learn English and study how to sound American.

Every video this summer is going to be a study English with movies video.

We’ll pull scenes from the summer’s hottest movies as well as favorite movies from years past.

It’s amazing what we can discover by studying even a small bit of English dialogue.

We’ll study how to understand movies, what makes Americans sound American, and of course, any interesting vocabulary, phrasal verbs, or idioms that come up in the scenes we study.

I call this kind of exercise a Ben Franklin exercise.

First, we’ll watch the scene. Then, we’ll do an in-depth analysis of what we hear together.

This is going to be so much fun. Be sure to tell your friends and spread the word that all summer long, every Tuesday, we’re studying English with movies here at Rachel’s English.

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Let’s get started. First, the scene.

We need it to say, “Hello”.

You’re not hearing me.

It’s not going to say– Fix it.

Fix it? Yeah.

Ha Ha Ha.

In forty minutes? Fix it.

I can’t.

Who’s the person who can?

I’m the person who can, and I can’t.

How bad are you saying?

It’s pretty bad.

I don’t know what that means.

It means the demo is more than likely going to crash.

You have to keep your voices down. Joel Pforzheimer is sitting out in the house.

Now the analysis.

We need it to say, “Hello”.

What are our stressed words here? Our anchors in this sentence?

We need it to say, “Hello”.

We need it to say, “Hello”.

We need it to say, “Hello”.

We need it to say, “Hello”.

Need, say, our two verbs, and then the word ‘hello’. We, it, and to, all a little bit lower in pitch, flatter, it’s the valleys compared to the mountains in this smoothly curved line of intonation.

We need it to say, “Hello”.

We need it to say, “Hello”.

We need it to say, “Hello”.

Need it, the D comes between two vowels here, it’s a flap linking those two words together.

And then we have an ending T and a beginning T. How’s that pronounced?

Need it to– need it to– need it to–

Those two words link together with a single true T and as so often happens, the vowel in the word ‘to’ reduces to the schwa, te, te.

We need it to say–

We need it to say–

We need it to say–

We need it to, we need it to. How does he pronounce the word ‘hello’?

We need it to say, “Hello”.

We need it to say, “Hello”.

We need it to say, “Hello”.

Hello , hello, really clearly, a schwa, an UH kind of sound rather than an EH kind of sound.

It can be pronounced either way, it is the unstressed syllable. He-he-hello or huh-huh-hello.

He does huh-huh-hello. Hello. Hello. So you have your choice there but when you’re imitating him, and try to do it the way he does it with the schwa, and don’t forget this ends in an OH diphthong.

I find my students sometimes cut this off: hello oh-oh. Oh-oh-oh. A little bit more lip rounding.

“Hello”.

You’re not hearing me.

You’re not hearing me. You’re not hearing me. ‘You’re’ and ‘here’, more stressed there.

Now ‘you are’, ‘you’re’, or ‘your’ often gets reduced. It’s said very quickly and it’s pronounced: yer yer yer.

Flat in pitch. Now, he’s not doing it flat in pitch. He’s making it stressed but he’s also sort of using the reduced vowel. It’s more like just the Y in the R sound, isn’t it?

So since it is stressed, I would write that with the UR as in bird vowel. You’re, you’re not hearing me. How is the T pronounced?

You’re not hearing me.

You’re not hearing me.

You’re not hearing me.

It’s a stop T because the next word begins with a consonant. You’re not hearing me.

Whoa! Different day, different outfit, important announcement.

Did you know that with this video, I made a free audio lesson that you can download?

In fact, I’m doing this for each one of the youtube videos I’m making this summer.

All 11 of the Learn English with Movies videos!

So follow this link or find the link in the video description to get your free downloadable audio lesson.

It’s where you’re going to train all of the things that you’ve learned about pronunciation in this video.

Back to the lesson.

You’re not hearing me.

You’re not hearing me.

You’re not hearing me.

It’s not going to say– » Fix it.

It’s not going to say–

Now often we reduce ‘going to’ to ‘gonna’ he doesn’t here, he stresses ‘going’, this is not what is going to happen in the future, it’s not– ‘It’s’ and ‘not’ lead up in pitch to that stressed syllable ‘go’, it’s not going to say.

It’s not going to say–

It’s not going to say–

It’s not going to say–

And again, we have a stop T in ‘not’ because the next word begins with a consonant.

The word ‘to’ is pronounced here as a flap T rather than a true T. Going to, going to, going to, going to, going to say.

So native speakers do this pretty frequently when the sound before is voiced and really frequently when the sound before was a vowel or diphthong. Here, it’s not a vowel or diphthong, it’s the NG sound, but that’s a voiced consonant, and so he is making that more of a D sound or a flap T. It’s not going to say–

It’s not going to say–

It’s not going to say–

It’s not going to say– » Fix it.

And then Steve Jobs, the character playing Steve Jobs, cuts him off. Fix it.

Hey guys popping in for a quick minute here. I’m waiting on the subway on a sweltering summer afternoon here in Philly, and you know what my new favorite thing to do is while waiting?

Audiobooks.

text rachelsenglish to 500 500 if you live in the US. Now, let’s get back to that analysis.

It’s not going to say–

It’s not going to say–

It’s not going to say– Fix it.

And then Steve Jobs, the character playing Steve Jobs, cuts him off. Fix it.

A two-word thought group, fix it, stress on the first syllable and the word ‘it’ just follows down in pitch, following the line, the curve down from fix. Fix it. And a stop T.

Now, this time, it’s a stop T because it’s at the end of a thought group, and native speakers often do that.

Almost always, a T is a stop T when it’s followed by a consonant, a word that begins the consonant, when the T is not part of a cluster. But it’s also very often a stop T at the end of a thought group. Fix it.

Fix it.

Fix it.

Fix it.

Notice Mr. Jobs holds on to the F consonant. Ffff. Puts more energy in it.

By exaggerating the beginning sound or holding on to the beginning sound of a word, it makes the stress even more stressed. It’s even more intense. Fix it.

Fix it.

Fix it.

Fix it.

Now, the letter X can be pronounced two different ways. It’s either the KS cluster, unvoiced, or the GZ cluster, voiced. How is it pronounced?

Fix it.

Fix it.

Fix it.

KS. In the word ‘fix’, it is the KS cluster, and that S sound links right into the IH vowel, very smooth. Fix it.

Fix it.

Fix it.

Fix it.

Now, we’re getting a lot of energy in the voice. These two men do not see eye to eye on what’s happening, and Steve Jobs is used to having his way. The other character is feeling a little bit desperate, I think, and his pitch is getting higher.

You’re not hearing me.

It’s not going to say– Fix it.

You’re not hearing me.

It’s not going to say– Fix it.

You’re not hearing me.

It’s not going to say– Fix it.

You’re not hearing me. You’re not hearing me. It’s not going to say– Uuuhhh–

All of that is a higher pitch than just normal conversational English.

And I think this happens often in other languages as well when people are in a heated discussion, a discussion with a lot of emotion, that the pitch can creep up and up.

So think about that and try to imitate that when you’re working with the audio that goes with this lesson.

You’re not hearing me.

It’s not going to say– Fix it.

You’re not hearing me.

It’s not going to say– Fix it.

You’re not hearing me.

It’s not going to say– Fix it.

Fix it? Yeah.

Fix it? Fix it? Okay, his F isn’t as strong, he’s not stressing it as much. Now he’s going: fix it?

The intonation is different. Steve Jobs made it a statement. He was demanding it.

This guy is asking it as a question. You want me to fix it?

Fix it?

Fix it?

Fix it?

So two-word thought group. Totally different shape here. The one was a command the other is a questioning of that command. Still a stop T. Still links together smoothly.

Fix it?

Fix it?

Fix it?

Fix it? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Little up-down shape, a single word in a thought group, shape of stress. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love it. He is so casually throwing this out there. Yeah, I want you to fix it. He’s not understanding what would go into fixing it, and that fixing it is impossible. He is not accepting that as the outcome.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Ha. Ha. Ha. In forty minutes?

Okay. So then the character has this great laugh. Ha. Ha. Ha.

Ha. Ha. Ha. In forty minutes?

Ha. Ha. Ha. In forty minutes?

Ha. Ha. Ha. In forty minutes?

In forty minutes? He can’t believe it. He has an incredulous tone. It’s not gonna happen.

In 40 minutes? For– minutes? And then the pitch goes up at the end because again, it’s a question.

He’s saying: you want me to fix it in 40 minutes? I noticed the word ‘in’ which is unstressed, was said really quickly and I didn’t really hear the N. In forty? In forty? Do you hear it?

In forty minutes?

In forty minutes?

In forty minutes?

Not very clear. The T in ‘forty’ is a flap T, it does follow the rules that comes after an R and before a vowel or diphthong. So we usually make that a flap T. Forty. Forty minutes?

In forty minutes?

In forty minutes?

In forty minutes? Fix it.

Fix it. Okay, we’re giving another command. The intonation goes down. Fix it. At the end.

That is a statement. And again, a stop T.

Fix it. Fix it.

Fix it. I can’t.

I can’t.

I can’t. Stress on the word ‘can’t’ and he does release this into a true T.

If you’ve been watching many of my Ben Franklin analysis videos, then you know that in the N apostrophe T contraction, we often don’t release that into a true T. But here, he does. Very clear. I can’t.

He is stressing that word. It is not possible.

I can’t.

I can’t.

I can’t.

Who’s the person who can?

What’s the stress of Steve Jobs’ next line?

Who’s the person who can?

Who’s the person who can?

Who’s the person who can?

Who’s the person who can? Who’s, per–, can, more stressed. ‘The’ and ‘who’ less stressed, lower in pitch, but still smoothly connected into the line. Who’s the person who can?

Who’s the person who can?

Who’s the person who can?

Who’s the person who can?

Can fix it. So if he had said: who’s the person who can fix it? Then maybe he would have reduced ‘can’ but it’s.

‘Fix’ and ‘it’ are not in the sentence here, they’re implied, but ‘can’ is the only verb and so the vowel is not reduced.

It remains the AA as in bat vowel. Can. When that’s followed by N, we add an extra sound, sort of

like the schwa, the UH as in butter vowel, before the N. It’s the back of the tongue relaxing. Can. Can.

Who’s the person who can?

Who’s the person who can?

Who’s the person who can?

I’m the person who can.

I’m the person who can.

They’re doing a lot of talking over each other, aren’t they? One person is not finishing before the next person starts.

And how does he stress this sentence?

I’m the person who can.

I’m the person who can.

I’m the person who can.

I’m the person who can. ‘I’m’ is often not stressed but here, it’s the important part of the sentence.

I’m the person who can.

I’m the person who can.

Da da da dat da da. Three long syllables, three shorter syllables. The, son– and who.

Now, don’t be fooled by the letter O here, that is the schwa, it’s said very quickly. Person. Person.

I’m the person who can. And again, with ‘can’, can, we have AH vowel, an UH sound, and then the N. Can.

I’m the person who can.

I’m the person who can.

I’m the person who can, and I can’t.

And I can’t. And I can’t.

Both I and can’t, a little stressed. Some of that up-down shape. Again, he does a true T release here.

He really wants to stress the negative. Can’t. The word ‘and’, and I can’t, it’s reduced.

The D is dropped, this is really common, ending N links right into the AI diphthong.

And I can’t.

And I can’t.

And I can’t.

But the vowel isn’t reduced, it’s AH. And, and, just like ‘can’, there’s a little bit of an UH sound in there as the tongue relaxes. And, and, and, and, and I can’t.

And I can’t.

And I can’t.

And I can’t.

Can’t. Again, AH followed by N, relax the back of the tongue first. Ah, ah, cah–, can’t, can’t.

And I can’t.

And I can’t.

And I can’t.

How bad are you saying?

How bad are you saying? How bad– stressed, how bad are you saying? So, before this clip, he was saying there were some problems with the demo.

Now Steve Jobs is asking just how bad are these problems?

How bad are you saying?

How bad are you saying?

How bad are you saying?

Bad and say, most stressed. What’s happening with our unstressed words?

How bad are you saying?

How bad are you saying?

How bad are you saying?

How is said quickly. How, how, how, how, how. Less clear.

How bad are you saying?

How bad are you saying?

How bad are you saying?

‘Are you’ becomes: ur you, ur you, ur you, ur you.

Bad ur you, bad ur you. So the word ‘are’ reduces. I would write that as schwa R. Ur you, ur you, ur you.

And those two words are flat, said very quickly. Are you saying–

Are you saying?

Are you saying?

Are you saying?

It’s pretty bad.

Okay, what’s the stress of this next statement? It’s pretty bad. It’s pretty bad.

Most stress on the word ‘pre’, the syllable ‘pre’ of the word ‘pretty’.

It’s pretty bad.

It’s pretty bad.

It’s pretty bad.

It’s pretty bad. And he does a little bit of a nod, a little head gesture on that stressed syllable. It’s pretty bad.

Pretty bad. Bad, also some length.

It’s pretty bad.

It’s pretty bad.

It’s pretty bad.

Pretty. It’s pretty bad. It’s pretty bad. Pretty. We have two Ts here, they’re a flap T because those, that sound comes between two vowels.

We have the IH as in sit vowel, the letter E makes the IH as in sit vowel here. Pre– pre– pretty. Pretty bad.

It’s pretty bad.

It’s pretty bad.

It’s pretty bad.

I don’t know what that means.

I don’t know what that means.

I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.

The word ‘don’t’ said really quickly, here, the N apostrophe T contraction has a little stop at the end to show us the T. I don’t, I don’t, I don’t, I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.

And ‘know’ is stressed. I don’t know what that means. And ‘means’ is the most stressed word there.

I don’t know what that means.

I don’t know what that means.

I don’t know what that means.

So the phrase ‘I don’t know’, that can be pronounced several different ways.

You may have heard it really casual like: I don’t know. I don’t know. No T at all. But here, he does signify a T by putting a little break, that abrupt stop, that is the stop T. I don’t know. I don’t know.

I don’t know–

I don’t know–

I don’t know what that means.

I don’t know what that means. ‘What’ and ‘that’, lower in pitch, a little flatter compared to ‘know’ and ‘means’.

What that, what that. They both have stop Ts as well.

They’re both followed by words that begin with a consonant. What that, what that, what that.

What that means.

What that means.

What that means.

Means the demo was more than likely going to crash.

Means the demo. So he responds, I actually don’t hear the word ‘it’.

Grammatically, it makes sense, but sometimes, we drop the subject like that when we know what we’re talking about. Means the demo.

Means the demo, means the demo was more than likely going to crash.

Means the demo is more than likely– most stressed there, going to crash. Crash.

Now the first time this guy said ‘going to’, he stressed ‘going’ and it said: going to, it came out as: going to.

Now, he’s not stressing it. He’s stressing ‘likely’ and ‘crash’. And instead, ‘going to’ comes out as ‘gonna’.

Common reduction for that.

Means the demo is more than likely going to crash.

Means the demo is more than likely going to crash.

Means the demo is more than likely going to crash.

So we have a little length on ‘means’. Means the demo– The word ‘the’, faster, lower in pitch.

Means the demo is more than likely– is more than, is more than, is more than.

These three words all unstressed, flatter in pitch. Can you simplify them as you say them?

Is more than, is more than, is more than.

Is more than, is more than, is more than likely going to crash.

Than. I would write that with the schwa. More than, more than, more than.

Reduced.

Is more than is more than likely going to crash.

You have to keep your voices down.

Okay, then another character comes in, and she’s a whispering, and the scene’s getting really intense.

You have to keep your voices down.

You have to keep your voices down.

You have to keep your voices down.

You have to keep your voices down. You have to keep your voices down. ‘Have’ has some stress.

Voi– has more stress. You have to keep your voices down.

You have to keep your voices down.

You have to keep your voices down.

You have to keep your voices down.

You have to keep– you have to keep– Now, have you noticed that when the word ‘have’ is followed by the word ‘to’ which happens pretty frequently, that instead of a V sound, we get more of an F sound?

The T is unstressed. She does make that a true T. She of course does still make this a schwa.

You have to keep your voices down.

You have to keep your voices down.

You have to keep your voices down.

Have to, have to, have to. But the common pronunciation for these two words is to make the V sound an F and may use a true T for the T. Have to, have to. You have to– you have to–

You have to–

you have to–

You have to keep your voices down.

The word ‘your’, so often reduces to yer yer. I would say she doesn’t really do that. I still hear it sort of as your, your, but it’s said really quickly, still unstressed. To keep your, to keep your, to keep your, to keep your.

To keep your voices down.

To keep your voices down.

To keep your voices down.

You have to keep your voices down. And then she goes right on, so I put a period there, two sentences, two sentences is how I would write that grammatically, but she puts it all together into one big thought group.

So she doesn’t stop the energy of the voice, keeps on going, no breaks, right from the N and down into the J sound of Joel.

To keep your voices down.

To keep your voices down.

To keep your voices down. Joel Pforzheimer is sitting out in the house.

Joel Pforzheimer. Joel Pforzheimer. So stress, in any name, is on the last name.

So whether your name is four names long, five names long, when you say the full name, stress is on the last name, and the last name ‘Pforzheimer’ has stress on the first syllable.

So the energy of the voice goes up towards the stress, the peak on the stressed syllable of Pforzheimer.

Joel, Joel, the voice is going up towards that peak.

Joel Pforzheimer is sitting out in the house.

Joel Pforzheimer is sitting out in the house.

Joel Pforzheimer is sitting out in the house.

Joel Pforzheimer is sitting out in the house. Joel Pforzheimer is sitting–

A little bit of stress there, sitting out in the house. Okay, what is the word ‘house’ mean here?

This is another word for ‘in a theater for the audience’.

So not the stage, but where all of the seats are, where the audience sit, that’s the house.

Joel Pforzheimer is sitting out in the house.

Joel Pforzheimer is sitting out in the house.

Joel Pforzheimer is sitting out in the house.

Pforzheimer is sitting, is sitting, is sitting. So the word ‘is’ would be written in IPA with the IH vowel and the Z consonant, but it’s followed by the letter S.

And the letter S is unvoiced, it’s paired with the Z because they have the same mouth position, and in cases like this, it’s gonna overpower the Z, and they’re gonna link together it with a single Z.

Sorry, a single S sound. Is sitting, is sitting, is sitting. Double T in ‘sitting’, that’s a flap T because the T sound comes between two vowel sounds. Is sitting, is sitting.

Is sitting out in the house.

Is sitting out in the house.

Is sitting out in the house.

Is sitting out in the house.

Is sitting out in the house.

Is sitting out in the house.

So ending NG consonant linking right into the vowel, the next sound, which is the OW as in now diphthong.

Then the T in ‘out’ links the words ‘out’ and ‘in’ together as a flap T, because it comes between two vowels.

Out in, out in, out in. Out in the house. And ‘in’ and ‘the’, both lower in pitch, unstressed, said quickly before the next up-down shape, the stressed word of house.

Is sitting out in the house.

Is sitting out in the house.

Is sitting out in the house.

This is intense but let’s listen to the whole conversation one more time.

We need it to say, “Hello”.

You’re not hearing me.

It’s not going to say– Fix it.

Fix it? Yeah.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

In forty minutes? Fix it.

I can’t.

Who’s the person who can?

I’m the person who can, and I can’t.

How bad are you saying?

It’s pretty bad.

I don’t know what that means.

It means the demo is more than likely going to crash.

You have to keep your voices down. Joel Pforzheimer is sitting out in the house.

We’re going to be doing a lot more of this kind of analysis together.