The Shape of Water

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.

What are you talking about?

No. Absolutely not.

Because it’s breaking the law, that’s why.

Probably breaking the law just talking about it.

Oh, he’s alone. Oh.

Now does this mean that whenever we go to a Chinese restaurant, you want to save every fish in the tank?

So what if he’s alone. We’re all alone.

The loneliest thing you’ve ever seen? Well, you just said it,

right, you just said it, you called it a thing. It’s a thing. It’s a freak.

Now, the analysis.

What are you talking about?

What are you talking about?

So he’s really stressing the word ‘talking’ here. And when we stress a word, we’re really only talking about the

stressed syllable in that word, and that’s the first syllable. Talking. So the unstressed syllable is

still unstressed even though this word is stressed.

What are you talking about?

What are you talking about?

What are you talking about?

What about the first three words of this phrase?

What are you,

We have a little bit of stress on ‘what’. What are you, what are you, what are you.

That’s said pretty quickly, isn’t it? The word ‘are’ is being reduced. It’s just schwa R, rrrr,

and because the letter T comes between two vowels, it is a flap T. What are, what are, what are, what are, what are.

Said really quickly, linked together. The word ‘are’ links really quickly into ‘you’ which is said quickly, and it’s flat.

What are you, what are you, what are you, what are you.

What are you,

What are you talking about?

As I listen to this on a loop, I think you could maybe get away with a dropping the R sound

and just making a schwa, but only if you say it extremely quickly, if you match the speed of this speaker.

What are you, what are you, what are you.

Then I think you can do it. If you do it any slower than, that then you definitely do need the R sound.

What are you talking about?

What are you talking about?

What are you talking about?

Talking about? So he stresses this word and he lets a little bit of extra air escape on his true T,

ttt talking about, and that makes it…stressing the first sound of a stressed syllable

makes it even more stressed.

Talking about, talking about, talking about.

Talking about. About, about. So this second word, it just falls down in pitch, coming off of the stressed syllable of

‘talking’. Talking about. The pitch falls down because the peak of pitch for this phrase

was the stressed syllable of ‘talking’. And he does do a stop T at the end, that sound is not released, about.

Talking about,

No. Absolutely not.

So then he says: . Absolutely not. And as he says this, he’s laughing. Now, I want you to also imitate the

laughing as you work with the audio that goes with this video. We want to practice imitation skills,

so when you’re working with this audio, practice exactly what you hear with the laugh in your voice.

No. Absolutely not.

No. Absolutely not.

No. Absolutely not.

No. No. And, so part of what he does is he puts an H sound in it.

No-ho and no-ho. It has a up-down shape for a stressed syllable. No-ho.

No.

No.

No. Absolutely not.

Absolutely not. AB, a little bit of stress there. Absolutely not.

And ‘not’ has the most stress out of that two-word phrase.

Absolutely not.

Absolutely not.

Absolutely not.

Absolutely. So you’ll see the letter O here, just make that a schwa, really simple, absolutely.

Now there’s another stop T here, that’s because the next sound is a consonant, it’s the L consonant.

Yes, the next letter is a letter E and that’s a vowel letter, but it’s not a sound. The next sound is the L consonant.

So it’s a stop T. Absolutely, absolutely. It’s not released. Absolutely. That is not what we’re hearing.

We’re hearing: absolutely. Absolutely not.

Absolutely not.

Absolutely not.

Absolutely not.

And he does do a very light release of a True T here at the end. Absolutely not.

He’s really stressing ‘not’. He doesn’t want to drop that final release.

Absolutely not.

Absolutely not.

Absolutely not.

Because it’s breaking the law, that’s why.

Because it’s breaking the law, that’s why.

What’s the most stress word there? What’s the peak of stress for that thought group?

Because it’s breaking the law, that’s why.

Because it’s breaking the law, that’s why.

Because it’s breaking the law, that’s why.

I think it’s ‘law’. Because it’s breaking the law. Law has the most up-down shape.

Breaking definitely has some. Breaking, but law is the most stressed, it is the peak.

Breaking the law, that’s why.

Because it’s breaking the law–

Because it’s breaking the law–

Because it’s breaking the law, that’s why.

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.

Because it’s breaking the law–

Because it’s breaking the law–

Because it’s breaking the law, that’s why.

That’s, also has a little bit. Breaking the law, that’s why. But everything that really smoothly links together with no

breaks, no skip in pitch.

Because it’s breaking the law, that’s why.

Because it’s breaking the law, that’s why.

Because it’s breaking the law, that’s why.

Because it’s– because it’s– Listen to just these first two words.

Because it’s–

Because it’s, Because it’s. Do you hear how flat that is? We don’t have that up-down shape. Those words are unstressed.

And then we compare that to the next word ‘break’ and the first syllable there does have more length

and has that up-down shape.

Because it’s breaking the law–

Because it’s breaking the law–

Because it’s breaking the law–

Breaking the law– So we have two other unstressed syllables here. The ING ending of ‘breaking’ and the

word ‘the’ before our next big scoop up, but let’s just take ‘breaking the law’ those three words,

and let’s just listen to those on a loop and listen to the music of that. We have a lot more up and down pitch.

We have a lot more pitch variation because this fragment has two stressed syllables.

So that’s pretty different than the flatness we got on: because it’s, because it’s, because it’s.

Because it’s breaking the law–

Because it’s breaking the law–

Because it’s breaking the law, that’s why.

And with the last two words, think about: that’s why, that’s why. Think about them being one word and

that Y is just an unstressed part that falls down with the pitch. And you know I drew that without a line

connecting them, but everything is connected here. There’s no break there. So when you practice: that’s why,

that’s why, that’s why, practice that with no break. Think of it as a single word if that helps you connect them,

and think of the pitch of the word ‘why’ just falling off of the little peak in pitch that we had on ‘that’s’.

‘That’s’ has a little bit of stress and then the of the energy of the voice just continues down

with the next word ‘why’.

That’s why.

Probably breaking the law just talking about it.

Okay, now in this thought group, what do you hear as the peak of pitch? What is the most stressed syllable here?

Probably breaking the law just talking about it.

Probably breaking the law just talking about it.

Probably breaking the law just talking about it.

Probably breaking– A little bit of stress there. Probably breaking the law just talking about it.

‘Talking’ to me has the most stress there. Okay, let’s look at what else is happening in this sentence?

Probably breaking the law just talking about it.

Probably breaking the law just talking about it.

Probably breaking the law just talking about it.

The first word, probably, he does a really common reduction where he drops the middle syllable,

so it’s just: probably. Probably, probably, probably, probably.

Probably–

Probably breaking the law just talking about it.

Probably breaking the law just talking– the law just talking–

Okay so we have this peak of pitch in, and I really feel we have a little bit of length on ‘law’ and then

the pitch for ‘just’ goes up as it’s going towards the peak of pitch. Just talking about it.

And then the words ‘about’ and ‘it’ fall away from that peak. We have a word that ends in a T and

then the next word begins with a T, we’re gonna connect those with a single T, just talking, just talking.

You do not need to try to make the T twice. We’re gonna use that to link the words. Just talking about it.

Just talking about it.

Just talking about it.

Just talking about it.

About it. About it. A little bit of a release of a T here, an escape of air. This T, about it, about it, about it,

is a flap linking the two words together that comes between two vowel or diphthong sounds.

But everything in this thought group super smooth, no breaks, no skips, no jumps,

pitch moves up towards the peak, and then back down.

Talking about it.

Oh, he’s alone. Oh.

Oh, he’s alone. Oh. Okay, so now he’s being sarcastic.

Obviously, this man doesn’t care if this creature is alone. And part of how he shows that he’s being sarcastic

is that he puts a lot of pitch change in his voice, which is what you might do if you were concerned.

He’s alone. It’s like “Oh my goodness! This is terrible!” so he does it too. Oh, he’s alone.

Oh. But of course he doesn’t, he’s not really concerned. Sarcasm.

Oh, he’s alone. Oh.

Oh, he’s alone. Oh.

Oh, he’s alone. Oh.

Oh, he’s alone. Okay so we have ‘Oh’ twice. It’s the OH diphthong.

Oh, he’s alone. Oh. And then we also have the OH diphthong on our stressed syllable here.

He drops the H and ‘he’s’ do you hear that?Oh, he’s, Oh, he’s, Oh, he’s, Oh, he’s.

Oh, he’s–

And the apostrophe S here is the Z sound, and it links the EE vowel and the schwa of ‘alone’.

He’s a– he’s a– he’s a– he’s a– he’s alone.

Oh, he’s alone.

Oh, he’s alone.

Oh, he’s alone.

So there’s a little bit of a break here. Oh, he’s alone. Oh. But let’s just focus on these first three words,

they just, they glide together so smoothly, don’t they? Part of that is because he drops the H in ‘he’s’

so he goes right from the OH diphthong into the EE vowel. Oh, he– Oh, he– Oh, he’s alone.

And then by linking that ending consonant Z onto the beginning vowel, the schwa of ‘alone’, it also just helps

all of the sounds go together, blend together smoothly. Oh, he’s alone.

Oh, he’s alone.

Oh, he’s alone.

Oh, he’s alone. Oh.

Oh. Big up-down shape of a stressed syllable on ‘alone’ and ‘oh’. Oh.

Oh–

Now, does this mean that–

Okay so now we have a little thought group, it’s the beginning of his sentence, of his thought

but he puts a little break, so we can group ‘now does this mean that–’ together, as a thought group.

Super unclear. Listen to how he says it.

Now, does this mean that–

Now, does this mean that–

Now, does this mean that–

Now, does this mean that– Now, does this– Now, does this mean that–

I would say the peak is the word ‘this’ though interestingly, even though I would say that’s the peak

and the most stressed, I don’t really hear the TH. Does this, does this, does this. Ending Z sound of ‘does’

linking into the beginning vowel. The IH vowel. Does this, does this, does this. This is definitely something that I

hear when these two words go together. Does this work? Does this mean that you won’t be there?

So ‘does this’ can definitely link without that TH sound.

Now, does this mean that–

Now, does this mean that–

Now, does this mean that–

The word ‘now’, not said very quickly. Now, Now, Now, Now. I’m doing that without moving anything

in my mouth except my tongue. My lips are totally relaxed, my jaw isn’t moving, it’s not dropped very much.

Now, Now, Now, Now. It doesn’t sound very much like the word ‘now’ but in the context of the whole sentence,

I definitely know what that word is. So in English, we have a lot of this contrast, of this unstressed stuff,

less clear, way simplified mouth movements with this more stressed stuff, these longer syllables with the

up-down shape, the pitch variation.

Now, does this mean that–

Now, does this mean that–

Now, does this mean that–

Now, does this mean that– mean that– The word ‘that’ also reduced, we do have a quick voiced

TH here, I believe schwa and a stop T.

That, that, that, that. Not too clear, mean that, mean that, mean that. Now, does this mean that–

Mean that–

Now, does this mean that whenever we go to a Chinese restaurant, you want to save every fish in the tank?

And now we have a much longer thought group. Many words, but no break. So all one thought group.

Let’s try to think about our peaks of pitch here.

Whenever we go to a Chinese restaurant, you want to save every fish in the tank?

Whenever we go to a Chinese restaurant, you want to save every fish in the tank?

Whenever we go to a Chinese restaurant, you want to save every fish in the tank?

Whenever we go– A little bit on ‘when’. Whenever we go to a Chinese restaurant,

you want to save every fish in the tank?

Pitch goes up, yes/no question, even though he’s still being sarcastic, he’s mocking her.

He knows she’s not going to actually want to save fish in the tank at a Chinese restaurant,

but he asks her to make her feel ridiculous for talking about this other creature in the water.

Have you seen this movie? I haven’t. But I’m looking forward to seeing it some time soon.

Whenever we go to a Chinese restaurant, you want to save every fish in the tank?

Whenever we go to a Chinese restaurant, you want to save every fish in the tank?

Whenever we go to a Chinese restaurant, you want to save every fish in the tank?

So let’s just look at the first few words. Whenever we go to a Chinese restaurant– whenever–

I put the wrong stress there, didn’t I? It’s not whenever, but it’s: whenever, whenever.

Whenever we go to a Chinese restaurant–

Whenever we go to a Chinese restaurant–

Whenever we go to a Chinese restaurant–

Whenever we go to a– go to a– Did you hear how he made the T a flap T in the word ‘to’?

Now we don’t usually do that with a T at the beginning of a word, but i’ve noticed we do do it sometimes with

the word ‘to’, the word ‘today’, the word ‘tomorrow’, the word ‘together’, those T’s can get turned into a flap,

especially with the word ‘to’.

Whenever we go to a–

Whenever we go to a–

Whenever we go to a–

Whenever we go to a– Whenever we go to a– go to a– go to a–

All right, we often reduce the vowel in the word ‘to’ but he doesn’t do that here, he keeps it a OO vowel.

We usually reduce it to the schwa. The reason why he didn’t do that is because it’s followed by a schwa.

I mean he didn’t think about that, but this is, this is how the habit has developed.

We wouldn’t reduce the vowel in ‘to’ to a schwa when it’s followed by a schwa because then

we wouldn’t lose definition. So by keeping the OO vowel, we hear it as its own word.

Go to a– go to a– go to a– go to a– go to a– go to a– Try that.

Go to a– go to a– whenever we go to a–

So it’s still really smoothly connected, isn’t it?

Go to a– go to a– whenever we go to a Chinese restaurant.

So we have two two-syllable words here. Chinese restaurant. Res-taurant. So again, with the word

‘restaurant’, just like the word ‘probably’, res-tau-rant, you might hear this as three syllables, but most

native speakers will make it two. Rest-rant. Restaurant. Restaurant. Try that.

Restaurant.

And he does a stop at the end. It’s a little bit of a nasally stop

because the sound before was a nasal consonant N.

Restaurant. Try that. Restaurant. First syllable stress.

Restaurant–

You want to save every fish in the tank?

And now let’s look at the rest of this thought group. It has this great give-and-take with the rhythm.

You want to save every fish in the tank? Da da da da da da da.

I love that. I love hearing the rhythm of the language. So he takes the word ‘want to’, the words ‘want to’,

and reduces them into ‘wanna’. So with you, it sounds like this: you wanna, you wanna, you wanna, you wanna, you wanna.

You want to save. You want to save.

You want to save–

every fish in the tank?

Save every, then the next word, both syllables flatter, lower in pitch, then we have fish,

up down shape, stressed, and then two more words that are unstressed, flatter in pitch.

In the, in the, in the. In the tank? Really great music to this melody, to these words.

Save every fish in the tank?

Save every fish in the tank?

Save every fish in the tank?

So what if he’s alone.

His voice gets a little strange towards the end, alone, it sort of

got this quality like he’s lifting something heavy in it. But let’s look at this little five-word thought group.

So what if he’s alone.

So what if he’s alone.

So what if he’s alone.

So what if he’s alone. So what. ‘What’ is the most stressed there, ‘so’ goes up to it. So what if he’s alone.

A little bit of stress on the stressed syllable of ‘alone’ as well.

So what if he’s alone.

So what if he’s alone.

So what if he’s alone.

So what if he’s– what if– what if– what if– what if– What’s happening there with the T?

It’s a flap, isn’t it? He’s linking the two words at the flap T, it comes between two vowels.

So what if, so what if, so what if.

So what if, so what if, So what if he’s alone.

What if he’s– what if he’s– what if he’s– Again, he drops the H in ‘he’s’, so it’s just the EE vowel

and the Z consonant. He’s– what if he’s, what if he’s, so what if he’s, so what if he’s alone.

And the Z links right into the beginning sound of the next word, the schwa, alone, alone.

So what if he’s alone.

So what if he’s alone.

So what if he’s alone. We’re all alone.

Okay then a very mumbled three-word thought group. We’re all alone. Low in vocal energy, so it has that

popcorn quality to the voice, where the vocal cords aren’t fully engaged. And that sound creeps in.

We’re all alone.

We’re all alone.

We’re all alone.

We’re all alone. And stress on the word ‘all’ but the whole thing is really low in pitch, low in energy.

We’re all alone.

We’re all alone.

We’re all alone.

The loneliest thing you’ve ever seen? Well, you just said it–

Now here, he starts speaking a lot faster. The loneliest thing you’ve ever seen? Well, you just said it–

And he links this first thought right into the second thought without a break.

The loneliest thing you’ve ever seen? Well, you just said it–

The loneliest thing you’ve ever seen? Well, you just said it–

The loneliest thing you’ve ever seen? Well, you just said it–

The loneliest thing you’ve ever seen? A little bit of stress on ‘ev’,

you’ve ever seen, a little bit of length on ‘seen’ but he doesn’t even really finish it. He’s just begins the N

before he starts right into the W. Well, you just said it– well, you just said it–

‘Just said’, stress on ‘just’, stress on ‘said’, and then a stop T ending that thought group.

The loneliest thing you’ve ever seen? Well, you just said it–

The loneliest thing you’ve ever seen? Well, you just said it–

The loneliest thing you’ve ever seen? Well, you just said it–

The loneliest thing you’ve ever seen? I’m actually gonna take back the stress I put there. I don’t really hear it.

The loneliest thing you’ve ever seen?

The loneliest thing you’ve ever seen?

The loneliest thing you’ve ever seen?

The loneliest thing you’ve ever– The loneliest thing you’ve ever– It really should be on ‘thing’.

The loneliest thing you’ve ever seen?

Now, it’s all really smoothly linked together, let’s talk about how he does that. The T in ‘loneliest’ is dropped.

It’s not uncommon to drop the T between two other consonants. Here, it comes between S, it comes

between the unvoiced TH in ‘thing’ and he drops the T. That helps him link those two words.

The loneliest thing. The loneliest thing.

The loneliest thing– The loneliest thing– The loneliest thing you’ve ever seen?

Thing you’ve ever seen– Thing you’ve ever seen– NG linking right in to the next word, you’ve, but I

don’t really hear the VE, I know it’s there grammatically to make it work, but I’m not really hearing that sound.

You ever seen, you ever seen, you ever seen, you’ve ever seen.

So I think because it’s low in pitch, it’s unstressed, it’s said quickly,

I think you could get by with saying these two words together like that with those unstressed qualities

without putting a V sound in there. You ever seen, you ever seen, you ever, you ever, you ever, you ever, you ever.

Pretty unclear, isn’t it?

You’ve ever seen–

You’ve ever seen–

You’ve ever seen–

So instead of: seen, seen, it’s more like: see, see, see. S, EE vowel, the beginning of a nasal sound,

but he stops himself to go right into the next word, well.

You’ve ever seen? Well, you just said it–

You’ve ever seen? Well, you just said it–

You’ve ever seen? Well, you just said it–

Seen? Well, you just said it– So the energy is going up up up up up to the pitch on ‘said’.

Just said. The word ‘well’, not very clear.

Well, you just said it–

Well, you just said it–

Well, you just said it–

I would write it with the schwa. Well, well, well, well, well. A little quick W, and then dark L sound, well, well, well.

Well, you– well, you– well, you– well, you– Well, you just– well, you just– well, you just said it–

well, you just said it– What happens to this T? It comes between two consonants, do you hear it?

Well, you just said it–

Well, you just said it–

Well, you just said it–

Nope, it’s dropped. Just said, just said. These two words linking together as single S sound, there’s no

stop and restart of that sound, it just links them together.

You just said it–

You just said it–

You just said it–

Said it– said it– said it– And here, the D comes between two vowel sounds, that also

sounds like a flap D between vowels. Sounds just like the T between vowels, a flap of the tongue.

Said it– said it– said it–

Said it–

Right, you just said it.

Listen to the word ‘right’.

Right, you just said it.

Right, you just said it.

Right, you just said it.

It’s kind of whispered, isn’t it? Not very clear. If someone came up to me and said just that word,

I wouldn’t understand it. But in the context of the give-and-take, the stressed and unstressed qualities

of a full sentence, I do get it. But it’s flat, low in energy, stop T at the end.

Right, you just said it.

Right, you just said it.

Right, you just said it.

You just said it. You just said it. You just said it. A little bit of a laughter quality at the beginning,

and we have another ‘just said’ again, T is dropped, two words linked together with a single S sound.

You just said it.

You just said it.

You just said it.

You just said it. You just said it. You just said it. Just, a little bit longer, ‘said’ a little bit longer,

probably the peak of the stress, and again, we have a flap here,

linking the two words together and another stop.

You just said it.

You just said it.

You just said it. You called it a thing.

You called it a thing.

You called it a thing.

You called it a thing.

You called it a thing.

You called it a thing.

Called it a thing. He gestures with his hand, matching that stress. A little bit of stress on ‘called’.

Called it a thing. And the most stress on the word ‘thing’. The other two words, sorry, the other three words,

flatter in pitch, no reductions, no sounds are dropped or changed in an unusual way.

T is a flap T. It a, it a, it a.

Linking together the IH vowel and the schwa of the article ‘a’.

You called it a– you called it a– you called it a thing.

You called it a thing.

You called it a thing.

You called it a thing.

ED ending in the word ‘called’ is a single D sound because the sound before was voiced, the L sound.

Called it a– called it a– called it a thing.

You called it a thing.

You called it a thing.

You called it a thing. It’s a thing. It’s a freak.

It’s a thing. It’s a freak. What is our stress here?

It’s a thing. It’s a freak.

It’s a thing. It’s a freak.

It’s a thing. It’s a freak.

It’s a thing. Stress on thing. It’s a thing. It’s a freak. Even a little bit more stress on ‘freak’.

It’s a– both times, flat in pitch, leading up into the stress. It’s a, it’s a, it’s a thing. It’s a freak. It’s a thing. It’s a freak.

It’s a thing. It’s a freak.

It’s a thing. It’s a freak.

It’s a thing. It’s a freak.

It’s a thing. It’s a freak.

Really smoothly linked together. So make sure you’re not pronouncing the article as ‘a’ or as ‘ah’

because it’s uh, uh, uh. It’s faster than ‘ah’, isn’t it?

Uh. Uh. It’s a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a. It’s a thing. It’s a freak.

It’s a thing. It’s a freak.

It’s a thing. It’s a freak.

It’s a thing. It’s a freak.

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

What are you talking about?

No. Absolutely not.

Because it’s breaking the law, that’s why. Probably breaking the law just talking about it.

Oh, he’s alone. Oh.

Now does this mean that whenever we go to a Chinese restaurant, you want to save every fish in the tank?

So what if he’s alone. We’re all alone.

The loneliest thing you’ve ever seen? Well, you just said it, right, you just said it, you called it a thing.

It’s a thing. It’s a freak.

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

What movie scenes would you like to see analyzed like this?

Let me know in the comments! And if you want to see all my Ben Franklin videos, click here.

You’ll also find the link in the video description.

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