AEE: Four American English Pronunciation Tips

This is an All Ears English podcast for American English pronunciation tips. Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection.

With your American hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl. coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA. And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash subscribe.

Do you ever hear native English speakers drop sounds? Maybe they say for fun instead of for fun. Today, we'll share four sounds that are dropped in American English that will help you better understand the American accent.

Hey, Michelle, how are you? Hi, Aubrey. I'm doing well, but I have a question for you. Let's hear it. What's something you have changed recently? By far and away, the biggest change I made recently is I went blonde.

If you're watching on YouTube, you can see that my hair is now blonde. And I kind of shocked Michelle when we first started recording today. A little bit of a surprise. Yeah, you like to do that with me.

You like to with the hair and the tattoo. Yeah, you've always got full of surprises. I love it. This is true. It's true. That is a big part of my personality that I like to shock people.

I will admit that. But yeah, if you follow us on social media, I posted with my new blonde hair a little bit ago and I promised that we would record an episode where you could see it. So if you're just listening to the podcast, definitely check it out on YouTube. All of our videos are also posted as videos on YouTube and then you can see my new blonde hair.

Come check it out. Super cute. I love it. What are we getting into today, Michelle? This is going to be a really fun episode. This is, this is, today we are answering a question from Marta from Sweden.

And I'm going to read the question. All right. You ready? Yes. Yes. Okay. All right. So Marta says, hi, thanks for an amazing podcast. I've been listening for more than a year and have had great progress in different areas.

I'm Here's my question. I sometimes hear you pronounce words differently. For example, the word far, when someone pronounces far and the other, sorry, so it's far and the other like fur.

Or like fur. You're kind of removing the vowel sound. So one might say far and the other one says fur. Right. Interesting. Would it be possible for you to give us some examples where your pronunciation differs from each other but still is correct to use?

Sometimes I get a bit confused when I have learned one way and then hear another way. Then I'm not sure if I have to change or if I can keep my way of saying it.

Thank you so much. Regards, Marta from Sweden. Thank you, Marta. Oh, this is a great question. Yes, this is such a great question. I thought about this a little while because I know that when I say for, like I'm going to do this for 10 minutes, I for sure drop that vowel and it sounds like for like this.

Like I just said, I'm going to do this for 10 minutes for. Yeah. But it's less common for me, at least when I say far, I couldn't think of any sentences where I'd say that's really far away. Yeah.

But maybe, who knows, right? You never know. Depending on what we're saying, what the next word is, sometimes we'll change a vowel to make it easier to say it. And this is definitely regional.

This might be more common in certain parts of the United States or in other regional dialects in the UK or in Australia. There's all kinds of pronunciation differences depending on where someone's from or where they live.

Yeah, exactly. So interesting. Yeah. So, I mean, people can drop sounds and they can, you know, these regional accents definitely can change things. So today we're going to talk about why the word far may have sounded different and give you more examples of American English words that sound different because of dropped sounds specifically and regional accents.

So, So these are all really good and important for connection because they can help you understand spoken English. And they're all just really common for native speakers. So they can help you sound more natural as well.

And when you can pick up on regional accents, you understand a little bit more about the person, like where they grew up, Aubrey. So that's really fun. Exactly. I remember Lindsay and I recorded an interesting episode about a lot of the words we say differently.

Like I say pecan, she says pecan. I say apricot, she says apricot. There are a lot of words like that that just depends on where you're from. You say apricot?

I do. Do you say apricot as well? I grew up in a lot of the West. We say apricot. These apricots are delicious. And we're all from the United States. But depending on the region that we're from, we'll pronounce a lot of things differently.

It's really interesting. Yeah. And it's funny how I say pecans, but I say pecan pie. But a lot of people say pecan pie, even where I live. Sometimes people are like, why are you saying pecan pie?

That's so strange. So it just depends on where you're from, where you grew up, and what you're used to hearing. Right. I know Lindsay says rum, like rum instead of rum.

She's like in the rum. And I hear that a lot on podcasts. Does she say rough instead of roof? Yes, but I also say rough. Yeah. You just never know, right?

It's so interesting. But yeah, so we're going to talk about sound dropping today. This is when a sound becomes weak, short, or just disappears. So often this happens when we're speaking casually or quickly.

Like if someone points out the word far to me, I'm going to pronounce it very clearly, far. But if it's in a sentence with other words, I might drop sounds depending on what I'm saying and how quickly I'm speaking.

Yeah, interesting. Interesting. So guys, yeah, definitely hit the follow button. So you never miss anything from us. And because you never know when Aubrey is going to show up with another surprise.

Exactly right. Be sure to follow on YouTube to see some of our fun surprises and right here on the podcast for all of our amazing episodes. All right. So, Aubrey, tell us a little more.

I mean, you know, with sound dropping, it's just this is when sounds become weak, short, or they just disappear, right? Right. So let's start with the one Marta mentioned, Farr.

I haven't noticed that you and I or Lindsay and I say this differently, but like we said, that could definitely happen depending on what we're saying and how quickly. And if it's followed by something, like depending on the word, that vowel sound in the middle could definitely become softer. We might, instead of saying far away, it might sound a little more like far away. right?

It just becomes dropped or becomes softer. And this is, as I mentioned, very common with for in my regional dialect. It often sounds like fur, right? Just for fun, just for kicks, right?

It rarely is for. I often will say it fur. Right. It's interesting. I'm thinking about this one. And I agree with you. Because for that takes longer to say, right?

So that's just, you know, we're definitely just saving time there. So it's harder for our mouth, right? To say for fun is so much more work for the muscles in my mouth. So I'm dropping it.

I'm just saying for fun, especially when I'm speaking very quickly, just for fun. Exactly. So, I mean, Aubrey, when speaking quickly or naturally, what are some other sounds that are commonly dropped that we can teach? This is so common in English.

Our pronunciation course has a whole module about this because native speakers often drop sounds. So, for example, when we combine two words and there's a consonant at the end, like next day, the T at the end of next is totally dropped. We don't say it at all. It's too difficult for our tongue to make that T.

Yeah. And then get to the duh. And so there's a elision there. It's just replaced. And so for example, next day, um, what, what did you do the next day?

You don't hear that T at all. Right. It would just be the next day. It's just too much. Too hard to say. Yeah. It sounds strange actually for someone to say the next day, like to have those bumping consonants and pronounce them both, um, actually sounds odd to me if someone says that, does that.

Yeah. And so we might do this also with other things like here. Let's give some examples. So instead of best dish, right, like that was the best dish I ever had.

So we would just say the best dish, best dish. Exactly. We link them. And we drop the T. That's the best dish I ever heard. You don't even say the T at all.

Or first time. When there are two T's together like that, you do not pronounce them both. First time would take too long and would be too difficult. Sounds very unnatural.

We drop one of them and we say first time. We link them together. Exactly. Or I love this one. Instead of just kidding, right? You would say just kidding.

Exactly. That K replaces the T and we rarely will hear the T. We just say just kidding, just kidding. We drop the T entirely. Exactly. And so the third thing that we want to talk about is with some words that end in NDS, we often will drop the D sound.

So for example, instead of the word friends, right, we might say friends, friends, instead of friends. Exactly. Friends. Friends. We're not saying the D at all or hands.

Hands. It's so hard to say that D really. We just say hands. We drop the D. Yeah. Or instead of kinds, we might say kinds. It's funny because the point is you're still kind of saying it.

You're still... I mean, I wouldn't say it's like... To me, it doesn't feel like it's totally, totally gone, but... It's so much less. You're not going to really emphasize the D. It's minimized, yes.

And the D, what we're not doing, when you make that D sound, you have to push with your tongue on the roof of your mouth, D, D. We're not doing that at all. We're saying kinds, and it's affecting the vowel a little bit, but we're keeping our tongue in the back of our mouth, and we're sort of emphasizing the N more, kinds, and we're not pushing for the D sound, kinds. It's interesting. Just minimized, like you said.

Exactly. So, I mean, when would you not drop these sounds? Good question. When writing, we always, of course, would write the sounds anyway. For a lot of these sounds, even if you are an author writing a book and you're trying to change things to drop certain sounds or change, you still would include all of these.

We still wouldn't write first time and leave the T off of first, even though it's said that way a lot. And also when speaking slowly or clearly, when you're trying to intentionally emphasize something. Just like when you end, when we want to emphasize when you just said, just kidding, I might say it that way sometimes as part of the joke to emphasize that it's a joke.

Okay, guys, just kidding. I'm slowing it down. I'm emphasizing every sound for a purpose. Right. Exactly. Or even if you're like kind of like fighting with your partner or something and you said something and they're like, how could you say that?

You might say, I was just kidding. Right. It's like you're emphasizing it for some reason. Exactly. So you could be changing the emotion. So there's so much that it could be.

It's really fun to play with this. Yes. Okay. So going back to Marta's question, are there regional accents that would affect the way far is pronounced?

Yes, absolutely. Right. So let's go through some of these regional accents in the United States. Parts of the East Coast, Boston, for example, the R is very different, right?

Yes. Yeah, so it can be very weak or even dropped. So instead of far, you might hear fa, right? And Boston is famous for this. Yes, and it's not just Boston, it's other places in the East, right?

Instead of car, car. car park how do they say car park car park so there's a there's a joke like park the car and have a yard right park the car and have a yard it's okay if you watch goodwill hunting that's what i was thinking yeah and ben affleck are letting their boston accents out they're like loud and proud in that movie

Yes, exactly. Or Southerners. So some have a drawl and that is basically when the vowel sounds are elongated, right? So instead of, uh, I'm going to let you do it.

You start. So it almost becomes three syllables, right? Far, like you're quite far from home with kind of add that little, that little bit of an extra vowel or the word day might sound more like day, day. It's different depending on where you are.

If you're in Atlanta, Georgia or South Carolina or Texas or right there, it's a little bit different everywhere you go. And you might hear this more clearly with longer vowels. Like instead of I don't have time, I don't have time. Right.

Or she's right. She's right. Right. Right. Sometimes when people mimic the Southern accent, they'll say, right, right, right. And you're just elongating your vowels.

Right. Yes, exactly. Or also Midwesterners. So especially, I think, older generations, right? This is not necessarily about far, but the letter R. Because some Midwesterners actually add R sounds in words that don't typically...

Have one. Yes. And also, the Midwest, definitely, and parts of the West as well, Idaho, which is in the Northwest, they totally do this, right? So for example, wash, they say wash, like I'm going to go wash my clothes.

And I'll hear it where I grew up, I would hear older farmers say this. So it was really interesting because no one my age, I rarely hear anyone my age say this, mostly because they were listening to movies and podcasts. They're hearing a lot of people not do that. But a lot of the older generation that mostly just talks to older farmers their age, they still do this all the time.

If I would hang out with my grandpa, my grandpa, my grandpa would be like, wash your hands. It's time to eat dinner. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or saw.

How might they say saw? Oh, saw. Saw. Yeah, they'd be like, I saw a bird up in the tree. My grandpa did this too. Or gosh, I'll say garsh. Oh, garsh. What's going on here?

Oh, it's more like garsh. Oh, garsh. Actually, my grandparents didn't say that. That might be more common in the Midwest. But they totally did wash and saw.

They would add that R. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Okay. So should we do a role play? Yeah, let's do it. We are friends here. And I'm asking, are you asking me about a restaurant that you visited, that I visited?

Okay, here we go. Did you check out that new restaurant? Yes, I went last night. It was my first time going. Oh, nice. Who did you go with? I went with some work friends.

We all loved it. The food was incredible. Yeah, they really do have something for everyone. And I loved all the different kinds of pasta they served there.

Same. But I don't think I'll be going there too often. It's just so far away. Yeah. And this is one where, well, we'll go through the whole thing, but I would never say like fur away.

I would use that for four. Like I'm only going for a few minutes and it sounds like fur, but fur away. There could be certain regions, regional dialects where they do that, but mine did not. So I usually pronounce far.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. So I said, did you check out the new restaurant? And you said, yes, I went last night. Right. So you took out the tea. And then it was my first time going.

Same thing. We're not going to pronounce both of those teas. First time you hear that T sound in the middle just once. yep and then you said i went with some work friends and basically you're the t is excuse me the d is the d is almost completely gone exactly it's very minimized we're not pronouncing it really really hard in the front of the mouth it's back and softer so friends friends and it just sort of becomes an nz sound friends yeah

Um, and then I said, yeah, they really do have something for everyone. So I didn't say they do have something for everyone. It's, it's just faster this way and more common. Very common.

Almost every American English speaker, lots of British English speakers are going to minimize the O in the middle of four, um, with almost everything they say, right? It's too far. It's too far away. Not too far away.

It's, I don't go, there's something for everyone. Right. Yeah. And then I said I loved all the different kinds of pasta. Same thing that D is minimized.

Kinds, it's more like K-I-N-Z. And then you said it's just so far away. But again, we talked about this is not really something we don't really say far away, right? Yeah, but someone might depending on where they're from.

Definitely. And I do not doubt that this listener heard this on the podcast because when we're speaking quickly and there's other things we're saying, any sound could be minimized as you're just dropping sounds for ease of speech.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So guys, speaking of things that are regional, we have an episode for you to check out after this. It's $25.92 if you haven't heard it yet. It's What Can State Mottos Teach You About American Culture?

So definitely check that one out. Yes, that was a really good one. Lindsay and I talked about her state motto, which is fascinating, and lots of other state mottos in the United States, which tell us a lot about American culture. So go check that one out.

And guys, be sure to follow on YouTube. Go check out this video if you want to see me with my new blonde hair. And definitely, if you are more of a visual learner, all of our videos are on YouTube. And it's the best place to leave us a comment, a question for a future episode, a comment about the episode.

In fact, leave a comment. Do you like my hair blonde? I will not be offended if you say, no, absolutely not. Go back to dark brown. We hate it. I need some feedback.

I would like to hear some feedback. So come leave us a comment on YouTube and let me know. Perfect. All right, guys. So takeaway for today. Remember that dropped sounds and regional accents are just two reasons words can sound different.

So just don't get too caught up in pronouncing things exactly the same as someone else. We just always going to go back to connection, not perfection. All right. Thank you for this great question.

Yeah. Oh, thank you, Marta. Yes, this was a really good one. And Aubrey, love the hair. And I will see you soon. Awesome. See you guys next time. Bye.

All right. Bye. See you next time.