Задание для студентов среднего и продвинутого уровней
I. Please, transcribe the video, save it onto your computer and check it against the master below.
II. Practice out loud with Jennifer, while following the transcript:
1. Start by repeating after Jennifer. Pause the video after each sentence and repeat it right away.
2. After you get quite comfortable repeating sentences in the pauses, for added challenge
a). practice saying the text along with Jeniffer, lagging behind by 2-3 words, and
b). then simultaneously with her.
I. Пожалуйста, сделайте транскрипт этого видео, сохраните его у себя на компьютере и сверьте с транкриптом, помещенным ниже.
II. Потренируйтесь вслух с Джениффер, одновременно следя за текстом транскрипта:
1. Начните повторять за Дженифер. Останавливайте видео после каждого предложения и тут же его повторяйте.
2. Освоив первое упражнение, “поднимите планку” чуть выше:
а). начните повторять текст вместе с Джениффер, сначала отставая на 2-3 слова, а
б). затем одновременно с ней.
Collapse ⇑ TRANSCRIPT
Pronunciation of “T”
Part 2. Omission of the consonant sound /T/
Well, as you can see we’ve had a very big snowfall here in New England. But that’s fine by me because I really enjoy a white Christmas. And Christmas is only two days away.
You know, Christmas is one of those words in English that is written with the “t” but we don’t pronounce it. Now many viewers have asked me about the pronunciation of /t/ in American English. And I hope to make that lesson in the future. But for now, what I’d like to do is explain when the /t/ is NOT pronounced. I’m going to explain four cases in which we don’t say the /t/ usually. And hopefully, this will help you better understand American English when it’s spoken.
Group One. In some words, we always omit, or leave out the /t/.
For example: Christmas – ['krɪsməs] . Never say ”chris-t-mas” only ”chris-mas“.
Now here is a list of words in which /t/ sound is left out. Note that this list is not complete. Listen as I say the words: Bustle ['bʌsəl], Christmas ['krɪsməs] , hustle ['hʌsəl], mistletoe ['mɪsəltou], whistle ['wɪsəl], wrestle ['wrɜsəl]. Now, “bustle” and “hustle” are similar words and they refer to busy, noisy activity, kind of like a holiday shopping you see in stores. “Mistletoe” is a kind of plant with a white berry; and there is a Christmas tradition that if two people are caught under the mistletoe they have to kiss. ”Whistle” as you know is a sound. That’s me whistling. And ”wrestle” means to struggle or fight with.
Let me say the words again and you repeat after me: Bustle, Christmas, hustle, mistletoe, whistle, wrestle.
Text One. Listen as I read the text.
I love the hustle and bustle of Christmas. Even while I wrestle with shopping bags, I want to whistle a merry holiday tune. And I’m never too busy to share a sweet kiss under the mistletoe.
Now read the text again. I’ll pause after each sentence and I want you to repeat after me.
Group Two. In fast informal speech we sometimes omit the / t/ in the prefix ”inter-“ as in “international“. So, in a careful speech we say ”international” – [ˌɪntə'næʃənəl], but in fast informal speech you may hear ” in-ernational – [ˌɪnə' _ næʃənəl]”“.
Here is a list of words that all share the same prefix ” inter-”. I’ll first read the word with careful pronunciation. You will hear the pronunciation of /t/. Then I’ll repeat the word with fast informal pronunciation. You will not hear the /t/.
Listen carefully and try to repeat: Interactive, intermediate, international, internet.
Text Two. Listen as I read the text. I will not read slowly and carefully. I will be reading fast. So that you’ll hear the omission of the consonant sound /t/. The Ts that are underlined are the Ts that are omitted.
English is truly an international language. It’s easier now than ever to learn English, whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced student. The internet offers language videos and lots of interactive exercises.
If you’d like to go back, you may use your pause key to pause and repeat after me. But this is a mainly an exercise in listening. I’d like you to understand the spoken English.
Group Three. In fast informal speech we sometimes omit the /t/ in a consonant group at the end of a word. Now, by consonant group I mean three consonant sounds or more. For example, the word ”acts“. We have three consonant sounds “c-t-s”. These are voiceless sounds and we dropped the middle one which happens to be a /t/. Instead of [əkts] we say [ək_s].
Here is a group of five common words in English. They all end with a consonant group that even for a native speakers is difficult to pronounce. That’s why in fast speech we leave out the /t/ sound. Listen closely and try to repeat after me: accepts, acts, lifts, rests, tests. In the final two words you need to lengthen the /s/ sound, make it long, so that people could understand the word you’re saying: res-s, tes-s.
Text Three. Listen as I read the text. I’ll not be reading at a slow rate. I’ll read fast, so that the omission of the Ts sound natural.
Grandpa accepts help from no one. It’s sad. He lifts heavy things and acts like it’s easy, but the weight tests his strength. He rests when he thinks no one is looking. I keep telling him to let me help. One day maybe he’ll listen.
Note that ”listen” is one of those words in which we always omit the /t/ sound. Now if you‘d like to go back, you can use your pause button to repeat after me. But again, this is another text in which I feel it’s more important to understand rather than repeat.
Group Four. In fast informal speech we sometimes omit the /t/ when the ending of one word and the beginning of another form a consonant group. For example, She kept shopping. Now in careful speech you would hear the /t/: She kept_t_ shopping. But in fast informal speech we dropped the /t/ in that consonant group. The consonant group is “p-t-sh” – She kep_shopping”.
Read and then answer the questions. First, I’ll state the question. You can repeat after me and then you can state your answer.
Number One. Let’s drop the /t/ in the consonant group “s-t-j”:
– What’s the worst joke you’ve heard?
Number Two. We’re going to drop the /t/ sound in the consonant group “s-t-p”:
– Which animals make the best pets?
Three. We’re going to drop the /t/ sound in the consonant group “s-t-j”:
– What’s the worst job in the world?
End of lesson.
Happy Holidays, everyone!
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Pronunciation of “T”
Part 1. The true T and the flap T
From the beginning, it’s been a very bitter winter. Back in December we had a terrible ice storm and many families, mine included, lost electricity. Today is a little warmer than usual. But I know colder temperatures will return. I’ll try to stay warm. You do the same.
If you listened closely to my opening talk, I used a lot of words with the T sound. I did that to help you understand that there are different ways we pronounce T in American English. Now in a previous lesson I explained the omission of T. That is when words are written with the letter T, but the T sound is not said.
In this lesson I’d like to talk about two different pronunciations of T:
(1) What I call the “true” T sound as in “talk”, “to”, “terrible”.
(2) And what is called a flap T or a tap
In my opening talk you heard me said these words:
- bitter- winter – terrible – storm – today – little – temperatures – return – try.
and this phrase:
- a lot of families lost electricity.
The Ts in blue are a flap T, the underlined Ts are a “true” T. By the end of this lesson you should not only be able to hear the two different pronunciations of T, you should also have more confidence knowing when we use these two different sounds and how to make them yourself.
Let’s first talk about a true T sound. A true T sounds like this – /T/. You hear this sound in words like:
- talk – true – stop – return.
So the true T occurs:
(1) at the beginning of words (either alone, or with other consonants – st, tr, str)
(2) at the beginning of a stressed syllable.
“Return” has two syllables. But it’s the second syllable that is stressed. T is at the start of that syllable. So, we say “re’turn”. Again, the true T is in all four words: talk, true, stop, return.
Now, how am I making this sound? The T sound is what is known in English pronunciation as a stop. A stop (also called –plosive) is a consonant sound that is made by stopping the airflow. In the case of T, the airflow is stopped by the tip of our tongue and that hard bump behind you upper front teeth. The tip of your tongue touches that hard bump and stops the airflow and then releases it.
Picture this:
These are your teeth. And this is the roof of your mouth. If it helps, I’ll try to draw the face, picturing a nose. Okay. Here’s the eyes. Okay. That’s you, your nose, your lips, your teeth, and there is that hard bump behind your upper front teeth. Now your tongue looks something like this, OK. So, the tip of your tongue touches the hard bump. The airflow is stopped. It cannot come out until the tip drops down and releases that air. That’s why we call the true T a “stop”.
So I want you to know three things when you make the T sound.
First, you need to stop the airflow. You stop it with the tip of your tongue and that hard bump behind your upper front teeth.
Second, when you release the air there should be a puff of air. Are you making the sound correctly?
If you want to check if you are doing this correctly, take a piece of paper. As you say the T sound, the puff of air should be strong enough to move the paper in front of your lips. Watch. See?
Now let me note one very important point.
The ” true” T makes a puff of air but only when T or TR start a word or a stressed syllable. With ST or STR the true T loses that strong puff of air. So, in the words TWO and TRUE we have the puff of air.
But in STEW and STREW that strong puff of air is absent. Take your hand and place it in front of your lips, say these four words, and you’ll feel the difference.
All right. The third thing I’d like you to remember is that the T sound is a quiet sound = unvoiced. It’s what’s known as unvoiced consonant. Meaning there is no voice, you’ll fell no vibration when you make the T sound. You know, you’re doing it correctly, if you can feel the difference between this /t/ and it’s voiced partner /d/.
/t/ – unvoiced stop
/d/ – voiced stop
These two consonant sounds are made basically the same way, but /t/ is quiet, it’s unvoiced; and /d/ is voiced. So you’ll feel no vibrations when you make the true T sound. And you will feel vibration when you make the /d/ sound. Also, take that piece of paper again and watch the difference. Now, here is the /t/… Here is the /d/. There is more air released. There is a puff, a strong puff with the /t/. That strong puff is not present with the /d/.
Exercise I.
Listen and repeat.
Group I.
All these words begin with the true T sound:
- table, talk, tap, teach, time, touch, toy, turn, two.
Group II.
All these words begin with true T followed by an R:
- traffic, train, tree, trend, triangle, trip, trouble, true, try.
Group III.
All these words begin with ST or STR. So, be careful not to release so strong puff of air:
- stamp, stem, stick, stop, strain, stream, strong, strum.
And Group IV.
We have a true T in the middle of a word at the beginning of a stressed syllable:
– attack, between, eternal, Italian, mistake (note: with ST we don’t have a strong puff of air; again – mistake), particular, retire, return.
Please note, a true T is used in both primary and secondary stressed syllables. Let me help you understand through these three examples.
Attack is a word with two syllables. Stress is on the second: At’tack. So /t/, although in the middle of a word, is at the beginning of a stressed syllable. So, we have a true T: attack.
Appetizer and Secretary are longer words. They have both primary and secondary stress. Primary stress is at the beginning of these words but the T still falls on a stress syllable. It’s a secondary stress. A little weaker but still stressed. That’s why it’s still a true T. And we say : appetizer, secretary .
End of Part I. Please go on to the next part of this lesson.
Аудиокнига “Четыре касты. Кто вы?” автора Алексея Похабова.
Билл Гейтс — весьма неординарный человек. К его личности люди относятся по-разному, но одно можно сказать наверняка: многого в жизни Гейтс достиг именно благодаря своему упорству. Выступая в одной из школ США, один из самых богатых людей планеты рассказал, каким важным вещам не учат в школе.
