How to stop feeling FAKE and start sounding NATURAL in English

Hey, it's Hadar. And this is the Accents way. And today we are going to talk about how to sound natural in English. I hear my students complain all the time that when they practice their English or when they try to apply the things that we learn about American sounds and intonation and rhythm, they always feel fake and they always feel like they're not natural. Something's missing that prevents them from having this nice flow and freedom in English, even though they know exactly what they need to do. So today I'd like to share with you the five tips I give them to help them sound more natural and effortless in English. Number one, it's okay to feel fake at first. Here's the thing. When you're learning a new sound, you're using different muscles. You're doing things that you're not used to doing, considering you don't have the sound in your native tongue. So it's going to feel unnatural, it's going to feel fake, and it's going to feel effortful. However, the more you practice, and yes, it always comes down to practice, the more you practice, the more you make it your own, the more comfortable and natural you feel with the new sounds and new melody patterns and new rhythm. Number two, you're mispronouncing important sound. Now, English is a very efficient language, so sometimes there is a lot of tension, but only in one part of the mouth. When we pronounce all those tense sounds, like the r and the l and the th sound, we don't need to use too many muscles. Let me give you an example. Let's say you don't have the th sound in your native tongue, so you need to get used to sticking your tongue out when you pronounce the th. However, I see a lot of my students because they're not used to the th, they. They're compensating for this weird sound with tensing up everything around your tongue. So they'll do something like this. They'll tense up their lips or stick the tongue out too much, tense up the cheek muscles instead of just sticking the tongue out and relaxing everything else. Think authentic theory and not theory, right? When I'm engaging a lot of muscles and when I'm tense, when some of my muscles are tense, when they don't need to be, that creates tension and that sounds full of effort. And this is exactly the opposite of what we're trying to achieve. Let's take the R, for example. If your tongue is not in the right place, you'll invest a lot more Energy than needed. The tongue needs to be in that perfect place to create that nice, tense, strong sound. It is strong. Not because I'm investing a lot of energy just because my tongue has clicked to the right position. If my tongue is not in the right position, it's going to sound hollow. And I'm probably going to try and compensate for it by investing more energy. I haven't changed the tongue position, I'm just saying it a little louder. I'm tensing the lips more, which doesn't help me with getting the right sound. And it definitely doesn't help me with sounding natural because I'm investing way too much energy. It's okay when you're learning the sound. It's okay when you're trying to find it, to discover it. And then you need to practice it and gradually reduce tension in your lips. And it's important to remember that it's not about those people who listen to you and say, oh, you, he or she sounds so full of effort. No, it's not about that. It's about you. It's about you feeling that you're investing way too much energy, that you're not natural. Right? And then we become self conscious. And most importantly, you'll be exhausted after speaking because as I said, English should be more efficient. And if you're not being efficient when you speak, you will invest too much energy, way too much energy and feel exhausted at the end. And that's not the purpose we want you speaking for hours and hours on end. Number three, you're pronouncing all words the same. So I already talked about it in my Intonation video and I will post a link to it in the description below. Not every word is pronounced the same and not every word is pronounced with the same amount of energy. So words that carry content, words that are more important words, words that deliver the message, are going to be longer and higher in pitch. Words that are less important, that are there just to connect. The important words are soft, the consonants are soft and the vowel is reduced. So all the M is ares, could, would, shoulds. Right? They're not could, would, they're could, would, should. Right? I'm investing very little energy in those words. And let me tell you this, even more than that, parts, longer parts, not just words, but long parts in a phrase or a sentence are delivered with less energy if they're less important. So parts that are a little less important, that are just there to get you to your main point, that is usually at the end, those parts are quicker. Those parts are more effortless. Those parts are softer. And to illustrate that, let me read you a sentence or two from a book. The first time, I'll stress all words the same, both content words and functional words, both the more important parts and the less important parts. And the second time, I'll do it with putting the right emphasis on the right words and parts of speech. Caroline and I sat side by side in the darkened auditorium with waiting for the music to start. I've always loved that hush, the hush of nerves and excitement that comes with the dimming of the lights, the last few coughs as people prepared themselves for the performance. Now let's try it again with investing less energy in parts that are a little less important, investing less energy and reducing the vowels. Caroline and I sat side by side in the darkened auditorium, waiting for the music to start. I've always loved that hush, the hush of nerves and excitement that comes with the dimming of the lights, the last few coughs as people prepare themselves for the performance. So, as you can see, I reduced a lot of words. For example, instead of Caroline and I. Caroline and I. Instead of. In the darkened auditorium. In the darkened auditorium. In the. In the. In the darkened auditorium, waiting for the music to start. Waiting for the music to start. So here I reduce the. For the further. And I stress the waiting and start. Music is a content word, but I also said it softer and lower in pitch. I invested a lot less energy in the word music than the word start, because start is the important word, right? It's not about just the music, it's about when it's going to start. Waiting for the music to start. Right? So I only invest more energy in the words that help me carry the message across. Number four, you're trying to be clear. You are pronouncing everything perfectly. Your consonants are very strong and sharp. You're enunciating every single sound. And maybe you are separating words to be clear because you've spent all this time practicing your pronunciation, okay? So it's a great stage to be at, okay? Don't get me wrong. At some point, you do need to be at a stage where you're fully articulating all the sounds that you're super accurate because you're teaching your tongue to reach those new places. Going back to tip number one, right? It's okay to feel artificial, intense at the beginning, but at some point, once you created those new habits, you need to take it down a notch. Dial it down, my friend. Invest less energy in the pronunciation of the sounds. That means your Consonants need to be a lot softer. So you are not supposed to say something like, pay the price. Pay the price. The P is softer. The A is with less energy. The is really, really soft. Not the. The. The price. Price. Pay the price now. If you're investing a lot of energy in your consonants, it will be harder for you to connect words together. For example, what did you do today? If I'm pronouncing every sound clearly and perfectly, what did you do today? Maybe my pronunciation is accurate, but I won't sound natural, right? Because the consonants, especially consonants of words that need to be reduced, should be super soft, almost like you're mumbling them. What did you. What did you. What did you do today? What did you do today? Like, I just got out of the dentist and my mouth is a little numb and I'm. I don't have the energy to invest in it or like, I just had a glass of wine or what did you. What did you do today? In English, there are so many sounds, so many consonants in one phrase or sentence. We cannot try and pronounce everything perfectly because then, as I said, it's not going to feel natural. Invest less energy, especially. Especially in words that are less important. Number five, use your pitch, not your volume. A lot of speakers, in order for them to stress words or parts of speech, they will just go a little louder. So I told her that this is what she needs to do. In English, when you stress words, you go higher in pitch. So I told her this is what you need to do. So a lot of English learners know that. So they go higher in pitch, but they still keep their habits from their native tongue and also say those words a little stronger. So all of a sudden, they're both going higher in pitch and pronouncing the word a lot louder. So I told her this is what she needs to do. So I told her this is what she needs to do. Instead of. So I told her this is what she needs to do. I'm almost whispering the stressed words. I'm not saying them louder. I'm just saying them higher in pitch. And that's enough to stress a word. You don't need to go both louder and higher in pitch. You do go a little louder, and that's okay. But if your tendency is to go louder anyway, for stressed words, don't focus on that. Focus only on raising your pitch. And in fact, I want you to focus on reducing your volume rather than saying it a little louder. Okay, that's it. Thank you so much for watching. If you liked this video, Consider sharing it with your friends and let me know in the comments below. What are the things that you find yourself doing when speaking English that prevent you from sounding natural and effortless in English? Have a wonderful week and I'll see you next week in the next video. Bye.