Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
3. Word stress
- How to Stress Syllables
- Why Word Stress is Important
- Word Stress Rules you can Follow
- Sometimes the Rules are not that Clear
- Do not think you know it all
7. Intonation
- Whats a Tone Pattern?
- Falling Tone
- Low Rising Tone
- Comparing Rising Tone to Falling Tone
- High Rising Tone
- Flat Tone
- Beyond the Basics
12. Contractions
- When to Use Contractions
- A List of Common Contractions
- Special Rules to Consider
This E-book was created for those who are serious about improving their English pronunciation,
for those who have spent a lot of time and money looking for ways to master their English
speaking and havent been able to; you have come to the right place.
Phonics is not taught in this book. The ideas in this book go beyond phonics, to talk about areas
of English that few ESL teachers truly understand. You will learn what really makes someone
sound like a native speaker.
Enjoy!
Why is it that people spend 15+ years learning English, even in a country like Hong Kong where
people put such a high emphasis on English education, that they still have a non-native accent?
You need to work on both points to really improve. If you have all of number two but are
terrible at number one, then your progress will be very small. Trust me on this one; you really
need to work on listening to yourself objectively!
If you want to sound like a native speaker, this is the most important question you could ask!
The foreign accent that you hear is a typical Hong Kong/Asian accent. However, I am using 100%
correct phonics! Do you know what is causing the foreign accent??
In this example, I will use non-standard/incorrect phonics pronunciation:
You need to learn many different skills to speak with a native accent; its not all about phonics!
Here are some graphs to show you the difference between the two recordings clearer.
10% 15%
1% 1% 1%
Although I speak with near perfect phonics, the other factors that influence pronunciation are
terrible!
50%
Here I am basically speaking how I would normally speak but forcing myself to use incorrect
phonics. So even though the Phonics bar has dropped to 50%, the other factors are still high,
and so I still sound like a native speaker.
20% 20%
15%
1% 1%
If you dont improve the other skills in RED, your accent will never sound native.
This book will give you what you need covering topics such as word stress, sentence stress,
linking, intonation, general pitch, sound production and much more.
ESL\EFL\ESOL classes are not teaching the right stuff! (We will use ESL to mean all 3 for the rest of the book)
Teachers put too much emphasis on teaching phonics (IPA) and the topics that I listed above
are rarely ever taught well.
Native ESL teachers use intonation, sentence stress, linking and other concepts all the time. But
they either dont know that they are using them or they dont understand them well enough
to teach it to their students!
The 80/20 rule states about 80% of the results come from 20% of the work. The other 20% of
the results come from 80% of your effort!
Spend 20% effort -> 80% mastery Spend 80% more effort -> 100% mastery
100%
1% 1% 1% 1%
Or this:
Firstly, this is an audio ebook that will let you listen to audio examples as you read so you can
understand much better compared to a normal text book.
Secondly, this book is split into 4 sections. These sections each cover the different and
important areas of English pronunciation besides phonics. You need to understand each area
properly in order to speak English naturally, fluently and natively.
Thirdly, this book also strongly encourages and teaches you how to listen to yourself objectively.
Only when you can hear your own mistakes can you correct them. I have included a full chapter
on this.
In English there are many native accents: American, British, Australian, Canadian, South African,
New Zealand, etc. The differences between the accents mainly come from how we pronounce
certain sounds. (Differences in phonics)
Here, the difference is in the er sound. This is an unstressed syllable. Americans speak it with
more of an r sound while British speakers speak it with more of an a sound. (This is
discussed further in the chapter Unstressed Syllables)
There are differences between accents, however, growing up in a western country I can tell you
that it doesnt matter a great deal what accent you have as long as you sound native! We can
understand the most common native English accents easily, and are very accepting of different
countries native accents when we encounter them. In fact, having a unique native accent often
is the starting point of an interesting conversation and can help you feel comfortable when
meeting new friends for the first time.
So I strongly suggest focusing on learning the techniques of sounding like a native speaker
before you go further in trying to master a particular accent.
Im a Chinese Australian who speaks native English and Mandarin. Ive got a bachelors degree
from the University of Melbourne, a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Certificate
and Im currently an English teacher in China and have been for the past 2 years.
During my experience in China I met so many Chinese people who are passionate about learning
English, but have found it very difficult to correct foreign English accent. I asked myself the
question, what makes a native English speaker sound native? I was determined to find an
answer to this question and help ESL students break through this difficult problem.
I did research and tested ideas while I taught students, I compared how I spoke native Mandarin
to how I spoke native English, I even used my experience as a singer to better understand the
voice and distinguish the differences between how people with different native languages
produce sound when they speak. I slowly created a list of important factors that foreign learners
must know about English pronunciation. Some of the things I have written in this book cannot
be found anywhere else in the world.
Bringing it all together, Ive created a package that will help you breakthrough the difficulties of
learning to speak English and take you closer to speaking like a native speaker!
It is difficult learning to speak good English. But its not because your age or because you are not
in an English speaking country that your pronunciation isnt better. Its because you just havent
learnt the correct and most important techniques!
Learn how speaking words clearly can actually give you a bad
accent and prevent you from speaking fluently!
Learn how stressing different words can totally change the meaning
of sentences, are you misunderstanding native speakers?
Learn which words you must speak clearly, and which words you
must speak unclearly to have a native accent!
In this section, I will show you the most important elements of how native speakers
stress. There are some elements about stress that if you understand them, you sound
like a native. If you dont, well, you dont sound native. You may not know it, but stress
could be the biggest cause of your foreign accent!
Sentence stress refers to stressing particular words within the sentence. Similarly to stressing
syllables within words, stressed words are:
- l-o-n-g-e-r
- LOUDER
- higher in pitch
- spoken more clearly
- uses larger facial movements
He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn't have to do any homework in the evening.
English is a stress-timed language; stressed words are given more time while other words are
given less! They are also said more clearly while unstressed words are slurred (passed over
lightly). This actually has a hugely significant effect on how we pronounce words when we speak,
read on to find out how Time for a Breakthrough!
Content words - these are the key words of a sentence because they carry the meaning.
Structure words - these words are not as important. They are usually small, simple words
that make the sentence grammatically correct and give the sentence its correct structure.
If you remove the structure words from a sentence, you will probably still understand
the sentence.
If you remove the content words, you will definitely not understand the sentence, because
the sentence cannot have any meaning.
This sentence is not complete. It is not a "grammatically correct" sentence. But you probably
understand it. These 4 words communicate very well. Somebody wants you to sell their car for
them because they have gone to France. We can add a few words:
The new words do not really add any more information. But they make the message more
correct grammatically. We can add even more words to make one complete,
grammatically correct sentence. But the content/information is basically the same:
Content Words
Structure Words
You probably figured it out already, in our sentence, the 4 content words (sell, car, gone, France)
are stressed. So the content words are said more clearly and are given more time. It gives
listeners time to catch the important information!
Remember when I said that unstressed syllables are slurred? Well because the structure words
dont actually carry that much meaning in them, native speakers really do speak them a lot
quicker than content words. In fact, the speed that they speak each structure word can also vary;
this is dependent on the structure of the sentence!
In our sentence, there is 1 syllable between SELL and CAR and 3 syllables between CAR
and GONE. You would expect the 3 syllables to take longer to say, right? But no!
That is to say, the time (t) between SELL and CAR and between CAR and GONE is the same.
We maintain a constant beat on the stressed words. To do this, we say "my" more slowly, and
"because I've" more quickly. We change the speed of the small structure words so that the
rhythm of the key content words stays the same.
syllables
This is why native speakers can speak so quickly and still understand each other! Because they
are listening for the content words that are spoken slower! As an ESL student, sometimes
you neednt understand all the words that are being said, but just the content words. When
you start to apply this, hopefully you will begin understanding more of what you are hearing
and have more confidence to respond strongly!
As you can see there is a strong emphasis in English to speak the important meaning carrying
words clearly, and to finish the sentence quickly by gliding over the relatively unimportant
words. Native speakers all use stress-time when they speak, so in reality, if you dont your
speaking can sound labored and irritating to a native listener! Better start practicing!
Another point to note is when the unstressed words are slurred, the sound becomes shortened
and unclear (schwa). The chapter on Unstressed Syllables focusses on how native speakers
speak these unstressed words.
To practice, I want you to keep the beat with your hand tapping on a table. The beat occurs on
the content words, Sell, Car, Gone, France, so your hand should land on the table when you
begin to say those words. All the structure words must be spoken in the gap between each tap.
syllables
2 1 3 1
When we speak it is not this time strict, but it definitely needs to have a general beat.
You may have the most difficulty with because Ive because it has the most syllables. You
must speak the 3 syllables in the same time as you speak the 1 syllable word my. The thing to
note is that the syllables in because Ive are not pronounced clearly anymore. They become
schwa (explained thoroughly in the chapter Unstressed Syllables).
In the schwa recording, you can hear that the sound Ive sounds more like uh v. Native
speakers change the sound here because the sound Ive takes too much time to make with the
mouth. Apply this new idea and try again.
Some students who tried to keep the beat and speak the sentence for the first time found it
difficult to speak within the stress-time. Its important to keep practicing and to learn the
feeling of speaking English like a native. The more you practice, the more you will get used
to it and hopefully it will gradually become natural.
*Different native speakers may say these parts differently. This is because schwa differs
depending on what native accent a speaker is using. Again, this will be discussed in a later
chapter.
The following tables can help you decide which words are content words and which words are
structure words:
Test Yourself!
Here are some sentences for you to see how much you have learnt! Try to guess which words
are stressed in the following sentences, and then listen to the recordings to check the answer:
Tonic Stress
Finally you should understand that in English, there is generally a stressed word that is more
stressed than the other words. We call this Tonic Stress and it usually happens on the
content word at the end of the sentence.
Consider:
I'm going.
I'm going to London.
I'm going to London for a holiday.
In the following chapter you will be learning when the tonic stress (most stress) is placed on
other words in the sentence, it can even be placed on structure words! Dont worry though,
its not too difficult!
If you have any questions or requests for a lower price, please email us:
info@secretsofspeakingnativeenglish.com
Learn the #1 cause of Asian foreign accents and how to correct it!
(Voice Placement)
Learn Vocal Fry, and why all native speakers use it when they
speak.
Learn how to use tone patterns In what situation you should use
which tone pattern?
You will learn about falling tones, low rising tones, high rising tones
and flat tones.
Learn how tone patterns can change the meaning of sentences, are
you misunderstanding native speakers?
This is a revolutionary section. The concepts in this chapter you wont find anywhere
else in the world. That is because the techniques were discovered from my own unique
experiences. I combined my understanding of native English and native Chinese with my
experience as a singer to discover that English speakers have a special way of using their
voice.
You will learn what resonance region, pitch, tone patterns native speakers use when
they speak. You will also be introduced to Vocal Fry, a special sound that almost all
native speakers use when they speak. Asian students, in this section you will discover
the #1 cause of your foreign accent!
Discover the special rules of linking that native speakers use, but
most teachers dont know about!
Find out about the proper way to link Plosive Consonants, when
you do this wrong it sounds so bad!
Learn that you must always use contractions when you speak, and
if you do not, you sound awkward!
We have already discussed some concepts such as stress-time (in section 1) that will
help you to do this. However, this section will introduce more techniques such as linking
and the natural ways that native speakers shorten words, in order to speak fluently.
These techniques make it easier for our tongues to pronounce the sounds. Without
understanding the concepts in this chapter, it would be impossible for you to speak as
quickly and fluently as a native speaker.
Learn about Voiced and Voiceless consonants and how they can
change the way we pronounce different syllables.
This final section will complete your learning. You will learn some special rules that
change how you must pronounce certain words. To sound like a native speaker you
should get these right. You will also be introduced to pausing and how this concept
can change the meaning of a sentence.