#439 - How to Understand Americans 100% When They Speak Fast — 5 Speech Patterns You Must Know, Real Clip Analysis, and a Deep Reflection on Global Consciousness
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So if you guys watch today's lesson until the end, I want to make you a promise that you'll be able to understand this clip that we brought for you of this American person speaking. He sounds a lot like the average American that you find. He uses a lot of connected speech. He speaks quite fast and consequently, so you'll be able to understand any other average American. And the way that will help you do that is by analyzing the most common patterns of connected speech that you find in American English.

So here's how we're going to do this. We're going to watch the entire clip first, and then we're going to break down to explain all of the connected speech that we see, that we hear in it. And then we're going to watch it again at the end. And I bet that you guys will be able to understand it 100%. So let's get started.

Y'all ever see those videos in New York City in like 1912 and everyone's bustling, hurrying around on the street? And I think, God damn, they were stressed back then too, man. And now look, they're all gone. And I know that's depressing to think about, but it reminds me of a quote from, I think, Anne Laurette said it. I'll repeat home, say it.

Every hundred years, there's all new people, baby. Every hundred years, all new people. The people we're on Earth with right now, this is our crew, okay? In the same way you can't pick your family, but you gotta get along with them. We can't pick the people we're on Earth with, but we gotta get along, man. In the whole grand scheme of the universe, all the time, all the space, the people on Earth right now, this is a tiny little group, man, and we get to be a part of it, man.

I'm in the grocery store. I see a fella. I think, God damn, I'm on Earth at the same time as that guy. Man, I see a cool lady. I think, man, we're alive at the same time. Man, that is freaking sick, man. Be kind to your neighbor, man. This is what it's all about. I'm glad I'm on Earth at the same time as y'all. Thank y'all. Keep on rocking.

So, first of all, great message, right? And we're going to discuss that too a little bit later in our conversation here. But first, we're going to look at the connected speech and even a little bit of the vocabulary because this is important. I think we can say that vocabulary, connected speech are the foundations of understanding natives, understanding and being understood in English, right? So...

I thought about looking first at some of the more advanced words there and what they mean. Let's go. And by the way, guys, as you know, I'm not a native English speaker, but Ethan is. So I'm going to treat you today, Ethan, as my personal American English expert. And I'm going to ask a bunch of questions. So...

He starts by saying, like, y'all ever seen those videos of New York City in like 1912 and everyone is bustling, hurrying around on the street? Y'all ever see those videos in New York City in like 1912 and everyone's bustling, hurrying around on the street?

So immediately there, I'm catching two words that I just want to work on more clarification on bustling, hurrying around on the street. What does that mean? Yeah, they mean the same thing. And what he's explaining is quite visual, right? That probably some of you have even seen videos like this at big cities where people are all trying to get somewhere fast and pushing past each other. Everyone is really busy, has to be somewhere on a tight timeline.

And this word bustling too, often you hear it in the collocation hustle and bustle, which means kind of like this rushed rhythm of modern day life. Hustle is another word in that case there. Like hustling is like a rushing to get something done, right? It reminds me of those videos that are speeded up as well. What do they call those? Those sped up.

Well, yeah, right. But it's like a time lapse maybe. Is that it? Oh, yeah, it is. It's like a long video that's like squished down into a small space. Exactly. So that you see something that happened over a long time moving really fast. Yeah, and a nice advanced word there, time lapse. So yeah, by the way, guys, we're going to be using a lot of advanced words here. And this clip contains many other ones as well. And we're not going to be explaining everything. We'll try to, but we may not. So if you want to make sure to not miss anything,

these words and what they mean and also include them in your active vocabulary so you can use them when you speak. You want to be watching this lesson on the RealLife app. You can also listen to it over there because it gives you, it saves all of these words as flashcards so you can practice with them later. It's a great tool for that. And we're going to leave the link in the description below so you can click on that and it will take you straight to the lesson over the app. Or you can simply search for RealLife English on your favorite app store and continue from there. So let's see the first pattern that I can identify here.

of connected speech that is when he says, "Bustling, hurrying around on a street."

Around on this street. What would you say is happening there exactly? How would you explain that? So oftentimes when you have a word ending in D or T, which the previous letter is an N and the following word begins with vowel, then we'll actually drop that T or D sound. So here we have like around on, right? Which becomes around on, around on. It almost sounds like you just have a double N there, like one word.

You'll see this a lot too, NT combinations within words like you have internet or international, any word that begins with this I-N-T-E-R, you'll often hear that just as inner. But there's a proverb that also includes that if you speak it with connected speech, if you say it with connected speech, that is, don't count your chickens before they hatch. Count your, right? And what does that proverb mean? It's for you not to make unrealistic expectations, just wait and see what will happen, right?

Also, maybe have a plan B even. It's kind of like when you're celebrating before you've actually had the achievement. Anyway, so that's how he says it. And obviously, you can also notice an accent in his speech. Where would you say he's from, this guy?

Somewhere from the South, I'd say. Also based on his word choice. But it's funny because he's wearing a cowboy hat, but then he's also kind of a hippie, just the way how he's saying man all the time. Yeah. He's definitely got some history, right? There's some baggage that just kind of makes up his accent. The way he says the word hurrying, also I don't think he said with the G at the end, so it's just hurrying, because he connects that with around, so it's all connected. Hurrying around on the street. The word the, the.

You can also see this pattern that we mentioned, even though it's like a T-H, but it's just like a T. So you'll say on the street. Hurrying around on the street. Hurrying around on the street. So it's like, and then on the street. But we see another pattern there in the word street. Did you hear how he say it? Yeah. So we have a glottal T there, right? So it's street instead of having a street, like a full T-T-T.

sound. We cut it off in the back of our throat. So it is a sound. It's not a silent sound. It's not the same as stree. It's a sound that you have to practice a lot if you're not an English speaker, probably. It's like a street. You also find this in other words like

A lot of times when a word ends in a T, a vowel plus a T sound, it's like we find this glottal T. So cat or boat. Or sometimes if you have it in the middle of a word, you'll hear this where it's like ending a syllable. And the next part of the syllable is a vowel like mountain or fountain. These have also that glottal T sound. Yeah. And one way to teach this that I've also heard this from you is with the sound and expression. You can say, uh-oh.

Because I think you'd hear this in most languages. People know what this means is like a danger, like, Oh, and even though like you may not have a glottal stop, little T in your own language, but you may have this sound. So, right. People may do this. Like maybe kids may do this. So you, if you do this, you can practice exactly that stopping of the flow of air. Oh, and that's the same sound street. Yeah.

You can even like a try and add the O after the word you want to practice. So that'll make it more easier to get into. It's like a street. Oh, street. Oh, street, street, right? Cat, boat, mountain, mountain.

Anyway, let's continue watching the clip. And I know that's depressing to think about, but it reminds me of a quote from, I think, Anne Lorette said it. I heard Pete Holmes say it. Every hundred years, there's all new people, baby. Every hundred years, all new people. Another pattern, the third pattern that I can identify here, Ethan, would be more basic linking that you'd find in...

All accents of English is a very common phenomenon in English in general. That you connect maybe a word that ends in a consonant sound and another one that starts with a vowel sound, right? Like a think, about, think about. You hear that a lot in phrasal verbs as well, right? Like to wake up, wake up. So you connect those two. And here, what can you see? What can you...

What can you hear from this part that we just listened to? Yeah, so you said like think about, think about, that those linked together, we reduce, we don't say a bout, we say about, think about. And there's also another glottal T there, right? At the end of about, think about. And this happens, you have to learn kind of like the rules of connected speech, which is that in English, we have content and function words, content words hold like the meaning, it tends to be adjectives.

adverbs, verbs, nouns, these kind of like main parts of the sentence and then function words, which are the linkers, you know, that are like prepositions, articles, auxiliary verbs, and so on. And those reduce and they tend to link to the content words. So about, for example, I believe is a function word and we reduce that first part of it. So it's like,

It gives the musicality of the language, right? That you have like think about, think about. I think there's other collocations with the verb think, right? It could even be phrasal verbs too, like think of. It's another possibility. And in that situation, you also connect them, right? Think of, think of you. And we had like of here too, right? That he says of a, which of a, we pretty much never pronounce as fully of a. We say of a, of a. It's like these kind of,

word chunks you can practice them over and over again until it becomes really natural for you to use it in your own speech or if you don't want to speak like that you don't have to but at least you'll you'll be able to pick it up well when you hear it or

There's like there's all that there's ends with a sound as the sound right and it connects to all there's all there's all there's all new people all new people. There's all new people. Yeah, and because of his accent, you'll also hear him connecting words that are not necessarily like content and function like hundred years.

Because he's just like a chose to he decided to connect those right sounding more melodic. Maybe I don't know So he said every hundred years right sounds maybe a little bit southern every hundred years. There's all new people, baby Right every hundred years. There's all new people baby and another pattern that I noticed was in the word the words But it reminds me he said a but it so the classic American tea or the flap tea

But it, right? And again, the glottal T at the end of it. So but it. So it's interesting because we talked about the glottal T before that you have like cat. But if you say, for example, cat and dog, it's not a glottal T. It becomes this American T or flap T. So it's cat and dog. Or like we say a game of cat and mouse. This is anything where you have like someone trying to catch another person like that. There's a great movie. Catch me if you can. That's like it. Mm hmm.

classic example of a game of cat and mouse or Tom and Jerry, of course. If you'd grown up in the United States, you probably would have said a lot like, cut it out, cut it out. That's like, stop it. The kids will say that a lot. Cut it out, cut it out. So it's cut it out just means stop doing what you're doing. Cut it out. Yeah. The flap T happens twice there, right? Cut it out. Exactly. So see, this is very common. Like the flap T, these things, I don't know what it is with American English that you guys...

Really love to change the T sound in many ways, right?

And whenever I have an opportunity, there will be like a glottal T, maybe even silent T or a flap T, so cut it out. It's good to learn all these different rules with the Ts so you can pronounce them correctly and understand them correctly. Part of the problem just is that we rely on our eyes so much that if you're always expecting to hear a T sound with the word, the T, then you end up pronouncing things wrong. You end up not hearing things right.

Because it's being pronounced in a way that you're not expecting, right? Let's continue watching it to find more patterns in this. The people we're on Earth with right now, this is our crew, okay? In the same way you can't pick your family, but you gotta get along with them. We can't pick the people we're on Earth with, but we gotta get along, man. Alright, so...

Interesting words here, first of all, to look at. He says, this is our crew. He's saying the people who are on Earth with right now, this is our crew, okay? Yeah, crew is like what a boat has. And obviously, the people who work together on a boat, they all need to really work together to make sure that the boat works.

that it arrives to its destination safely, right? And so he's kind of just using that metaphorically to say, like, you know, we're all in this together. We have to work together, you know, to make the world a better place, to all live our best lives, to...

uh maybe even referencing like things happening with the environment right so kind of like this thing we got to have each other's backs we have to support each other yeah and then he he'll say we got to get along with these people right you can't pick your family the same way that you can't pick your family but you got to get along with them we can't pick the people that we're on earth with but we've got to get along with these people too yeah to get along is to have a good relationship with someone

It's like maybe even if you don't like someone, you get along with them, at least like you're, you know, you're not fighting, you're not enemies or anything like that. You try to be as nice as you can to that person. And you have nice connected speech there. We had the American T again, right? Or that flap T, get along with, get along with, and got to becoming gotta, gotta get along with. So that's a good phrase to practice to get that flap T down. Anyway, so let's look at the next pattern of connected speech that we can hear in this. This is going to be the fifth one now.

The fifth pattern, that is how he said, but you, but you gotta, but you gotta. So what would you say that's happening there with but you? That suddenly the T again, man, that letter T, crazy. What's happening there? Yeah, I think this is like the last of the...

weird things that happen in English with T. So we've looked at two already, right? With the NT and the glottal T. And so now it's T plus Y. When we have a T plus a Y, where the Y is part of a function word, which usually I think is with you, it becomes a ch sound. So but you becomes but you. Can't you becomes can't you. Wouldn't you becomes wouldn't you.

It makes me think of that song a lot, like the bad boys, bad boys, what you gonna do? What you gonna do when they come for you?

And there's a nice pattern as well that's very similar that we have a D plus a Y and it becomes a J sound. So it's like would you, could you, should you. Sometimes you just say Jew. Not even did Jew, but Jew. Do you download the RealLife English app yet? Yeah.

All right, now let's finish it with the last part. It's going to be a little bit longer, but it's also got some interesting patterns for us to look into and also some vocabulary. Let's check it out. Whole grand scheme of the universe, all the time, all the space. The people on Earth right now, this is a tiny little group, man. And we get to be a part of it, man. I'm in the grocery store. I see a fella. I think, God damn, I'm on Earth at the same time as that guy. Man, I see a cool lady. I think, man, we're alive at the same time.

Man, that is freaking sick, man. Be kind to your neighbor, man. This is what it's all about. I'm glad I'm on Earth at the same time as y'all. Thank y'all. Keep on rocking. This guy's so kooky.

And that's the way he, I like the way he just signs off and finish that. But by the way, he's so kooky. Kooky? What'd you say? Kooky. Kooky. What is that? Kooky is like someone that's just a bit unique and weird. I think also like Phoebe from Friends. She's totally kooky, you know? Mm-hmm.

That sort of personality. He ends every single... Almost every single sentence with man. Yeah. And then in this part, he actually uses other words that I would say are relative to man. Like you say, like fella also, right? And even the way he says cool lady, like I see a cool lady. I mean...

It's just nice. It's kooky in the way he speaks. But let me ask you, there's a phrase that he starts this part with that is in a whole grand scheme of the universe. Those words are not randomly chosen, right? That's a collocation, right? That you may hear. Yeah. You hear a lot like in the grand scheme of things. And people say a lot of times like, you know, the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter. So it's maybe when something happens, things...

I think, for example, if someone got into an accident, a car accident, and their car was totaled, when we say your car is total, it means like it's irreparable. And you might be like, oh, man, that's that's like horrible. I'm so sorry. And they might say like, oh, you know, but no one was hurt in the grand scheme of things. It doesn't really matter. It's just it's just a car. So we'll use it a lot like that. And he's just expanding on that to even more just saying the grand scheme of the universe, you know.

This is what's really important. And interestingly, here's where it's also we find the connected speech that I wanted to touch on another pattern that he says in the grand schema, schema things, scheme of the universe. I mean, so in the grand scheme of the universe, he doesn't say of, he just says, uh, right. So this happens very often as well. Yeah, I think pretty much any times you have of not followed by a vowel, right?

If it's followed by a vowel, then usually the V from of will link to the vowel. But if it's followed by a consonant like the, so anytime you see of the, usually you're going to hear other, other. It's a schwa sound as we call it.

The word scheme ends with a consonant sound. So it'll connect as well. It's going to be schema. Or we can come back to like other connected speech patterns. Like there's a nice expression out of the blue, out of the blue, which means that something happens. You didn't predict it at all. It was really random. It was really unexpected. It happened out of the blue. And so we have like the American T or flap T there, out of.

Out of the blue. So there's other expressions. There's another proverb that I brought to illustrate this. That is, there's plenty of fish in the sea. So, plenia. There's two patterns there. There's one that we already taught. That is, instead of saying plenty, which means sufficient, enough, a lot. It's plenty. So you're not saying the T there. It's just like because of the N letter preceding it. So it's plenty. Plenia. Plenia fish. Plenia.

Plenty of fish. There's actually a dating service back in the day that was called Plenty of Fish. That was just the name of it. I think like pre-Tinder, you know? Anyway, so just to close this, there's other phrases that we can hear that have some connected speech patterns that we've already touched on, but they are so cool the way he says it. Like, this is what it's all about. Another popular collocation. This is what it's all about. You can hear that this is...

It's all connected. This is what, this is what it, this is what it's, this is what it's all up. So every single word will connect to the next because it's like a consonant and vowel, consonant, vowel, right? Starting in any word. So this is what it's all about. Content function, content function, content function as well. There you go. That too. So you guys can practice that. This is what it's all about. This is what it's all about. It's like one of those things like maybe kids,

due to practice oh and at the end he signs off he finishes it by saying keep on rocking thank you keep on rocking it's just a way to say like keep on doing what you're doing you're doing a great job just keep doing it you know keep up the good work me here that too right

Nice. Sounds more informal though. So now that we've watched, we've been through the entire clip and we've covered all of the most common connected speech patterns. I think we can watch it one more time. And for all of you guys listening and watching us, notice the connected speech patterns that we've identified and see how much more clear it'll be to you now. Because as Ethan has already explained, it's not about the way it's written. It's just about the way it sounds. If you get used to the way it sounds and understand

You just practice maybe even saying it. I think there's a connection between practicing, pronouncing, and then later recognizing that the ability to say it helps you understand it too. So it's just really great. And you'll see how you're going to be able to understand, if not everything, but most of it this time. So let's go. Without subtitles. Without subtitles. It's true.

Y'all ever see those videos in New York City in like 1912 and everyone's bustling, hurrying around on the street? And I think, God damn, they were stressed back then too, man. And now look, they're all gone. And I know that's depressing to think about, but it reminds me of a quote from, I think Anne Laurette said it. I heard Pete Holmes say it.

Every hundred years, there's all new people, baby. Every hundred years, all new people. The people we're on Earth with right now, this is our crew, okay? In the same way you can't pick your family, but you gotta get along with them. We can't pick the people we're on Earth with, but we gotta get along, man. In the whole grand scheme of the universe, all the time, all the space, the people on Earth right now, this is a tiny little group, man, and we get to be a part of it, man.

I'm in the grocery store. I see a fella. I think, God damn, I'm on earth at the same time as that guy. Man, I see a cool lady. I think, man, we're alive at the same time. Man, that is freaking sick, man. Be kind to your neighbor, man. This is what it's all about. I'm glad I'm on earth at the same time as y'all. Thank y'all. Keep on rocking. So, so deep, as I was saying in the beginning of the lesson, even though it's quite informal, the way he speaks and it's fun.

You know, it's like this crazy guy. I mean, where is he, by the way? Like some sort of swamp? It looks like something you see in the south of the United States. Yeah, I assume based on his accent, he's probably somewhere in the south. There's that whole area. It's called the Bayou, like in Louisiana, mostly, maybe in Missouri.

What is it? Alabama? Maybe Alabama? It's like that area that there's lots of swamps and bayou with alligators and so on. Yeah, and it all helps just make it more memorable even because the first time I watched this, I just kept thinking about it, right? Because it's very specific. The message, the way it looks, everything. And about the message, it reminded me of...

Something I've heard from one of the guys who work with us, Rodrigo. It's a quote. It's some sort of a phrase that the Mayans. Mayans. Ancient civilization. The Mayans. The Mayans. There you go. The Mayans would say, I believe it's like En La Ketch. I looked up the pronunciation of it. I think it's like En La Ketch. And it means I'm another you.

If you think about it, I started thinking more and more about this more recently because I started driving. I mean, I drive, but I bought a car and now I'm driving almost on a daily basis. And I have more opportunities to kind of practice what I preach in a lot of these lessons. Right. Like what this guy says, we also like to say it at the end of every lesson. We say that no matter what divides us.

that which unites us is far greater we say it not just because it's like i know beautiful words you know something nice maybe because like people will follow us if we if we look nice it's not that it's just because it's what it's really what drives us and um but it's one thing to be saying it it's a whole other thing to be practicing it so this proverb another one for you guys like to practice what you preach whether it is what you like more connected speech there

Or you can even say to put your money where your mouth is, put your. What do those mean? All mean the same thing to be walking, to talk. Another phrase there, right? To be saying one thing and doing the same thing that you're saying, right? To be maybe in our case, it's our work. It's our job to say things in these lessons, right? Not just about English, but about life.

And we don't want to be hypocritical, meaning the opposite of walking the talk, of practicing what you preach, which is like saying one thing and doing the opposite. We don't want to be these people. I want to be hypocritical. So I just started to recognize the opportunities more. So now that I'm driving, you know, it's so easy for you to get mad at people for you to... Road rage. Yeah. And for you to just think like, oh, no, maybe...

Hey RealLifer! So I just wanted to let you know that this is actually just an excerpt from the full-length podcast which you will find exclusively over on the RealLife English app.

Now over there, you're going to see the rest of Izzy and mine's conversation, which is packed full of great expressions that you can use for your everyday English and sound much more fluent. Plus you get the vocabulary flashcards, which will help you to never forget them. So they're available to you in your next conversation. All right.

So be sure to download the RealLife English app now for free by looking for RealLife English in the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. Or the easiest way is actually just by clicking the link down in the description below right on your smartphone. And I look forward to seeing you there. Aw yeah!