🗣Rhythm | Core Training with Hadar

Foreign. Hey. Hey, everyone. Welcome to day four of the English Pronunciation Made simple training. How are you doing? Is it simple? Is it simple yet? How have you been? How are you doing? Where are you connecting to us from? And maybe put one word in the comment that describes your mood today. Mine is joyful and excited. Okay. As always, what can I do? Whenever I speak to you guys, I feel joyful and excited. Not a lie. Okay, so we have people watching from England, Colombia. Awesome. That's not a place. Nicaragua. Nepal. Amazing. Poland. Chicago. Mali. Mexico. Amazing. I'm happy that you could all join us today. We have an exquisite training about American rhythm. It's going to be fun. I want you to kind of, like, loosen up your body, open up your mind and your ears, and get ready to understand the difference between the rhythm of English and perhaps the rhythm of your first language. And how you can actually adapt to the rhythm of English, how you can practice it so that you can feel confident, communicate clearly, and understand people better. Okay, good. So let me pull up the slides. I'm going to move around a little bit. And as I said, today is day four and we're going to talk about rhythm. Up until today, we talked about sounds on day one. On day two, we talked about connected speech, how to put everything together. Our main focus in this training is prosody, intonation, rhythm, and stress. So days two, three, and four deal with elements of prosody. Prosody is one of my favorite aspects of teaching pronunciation, one of the things I love teaching inside my programs. We deeply dive into the prosody of English because I think it's so important and really helps people feel more confident, more at home when speaking and using English, and, of course, understanding others. And day three, we talked about pitch and intonation. That was yesterday. And today we are going to talk about rhythm. Tomorrow, day five, we are going to talk about effective practice techniques and how to continue your journey. Since tomorrow is going to be our last day. But even after our last day, I want you to know that your journey with me is not finished, because we will. We are talking a lot about pronunciation, intonation, rhythm, and stress, but there are a lot of other elements that go into a successful learning experience. A lot of them have to do with. With your mindset, how you think about things. If you experience fear or insecurity or anxiety or you find yourself avoiding English, then maybe there are some things that you need to understand, how your brain works and how you operate when speaking a second language. And this masterclass that I'm hosting next week on Tuesday and on Wednesday, I'm hosting three masterclasses. They're all going to be the same, so you need to choose a time and day. I'm going to be talking about that. So I highly recommend that you join us. We're going to talk about strategy, we're going to talk about some of the bad advice that, that you hear out there that a lot of you, I'm sure, are following. And it's without you knowing. It's probably preventing you from progressing and advancing and it contributes to you feeling stuck. I don't want you to feel stuck. This is why we created this training. I want you to see, I want you to see that it's possible to make significant changes and to transform your English when you have clear instructions, when you have guidance, when you have focused, when you know what you need to do to see results. And you're not just kind of like moving around the space and trying to figure out and watching YouTube and doing this and doing that. You need clarity, you need structure. You need to understand where your time should be spent. And we are going to talk about that in the masterclass. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to include that in the pronunciation training since the focus is pronunciation. So if any of the things that I talked about resonates with you or resonate with you resonates with you, then I recommend that you sign up for the masterclass. It's absolutely free, so go to hadar shemesh.com forward/masterclass. I even have it here and you can register and I think you don't have to join live. So. Okay. No, that wasn't the right question. I thought that I saw this question. Okay, yeah, you can see that you have in the comments a link to the masterclass@rshmish.com masterclass okay, good. I'm gonna give you a minute to sign up really quickly. If you're still searching for it before we continue, go ahead and sign up. And even if you can't make it live to one of the three events, then you can. What you can do is just sign up and then you'll get the replay. But I really do recommend that you sign up because there are surprises and a Q and A and you like. It's more. It's more interactive. Okay, good. Let me know in the chat if you signed up. And yeah, this is exactly how I feel stuck. So this is definitely going to be, to be valuable for you. You're going to get some practical tips and strategies on how to get unstuck in your English. Okay, good. I have some duns. You already registered. Amazing. Very good. All right, so if you need another minute, go ahead and sign up. And in the meantime, I'm going to talk about what we're going to do today. Today we're going to talk about rhythm. What is rhythm in a language? Have you ever noticed that there is such thing as rhythm? We usually think of grammar and we think of vocabulary, but rhythm. So, yes, today we're going to talk about what that actually is. Then we're going to talk about specifically the rhythm of English that is slightly different than other languages. Then we're going to talk about reductions in English that contribute to the rhythm of English. Remember yesterday I said when we talked about pitch and content words and functional words, we started talking about reductions. But today we're going to go deeper and practice it even more. And then we're going to talk about how to master the rhythm of English. I'm going to give you some practice techniques. We are going to practice together. So the practice session is at the end. It's going to be a lot of fun and very effective. When it comes to rhythm, you cannot understand it. You got to feel it. Just like with music, if you see the music sheet and you see the notes, most of the people won't be able to feel it. But if you hear the drums, you. You get it in your body. So make sure you say all the way until the end to really, really experience it. Now, what is rhythm? What do you think rhythm is? Let me know in the comments. What is rhythm in a language? Rhythm is the sense of movement in speech created by different elements, like the length of syllables, number of syllables, space between phrases, cadence, which is the pace, and stressed syllables. Okay, I'm gonna make it a little bigger and say it again. The sense of movement in speech. Okay. When we're speaking, there is the sense of movement. And what is it? How does it happen? How does it occur? It's created by different elements, like the length of syllables, if it's long or short. A combination of long and short. The number of syllables. Unique two syllables. Appreciation. Right. It's more than two syllables. It changes the rhythm space between phrases. If I take a pause or not. Cadence, if I say it really slowly or a little faster. And of course, stressed syllables, which. We're going to talk more about that today. The rhythm is created by stressing words. This is how you can actually control the rhythm. How you stress words. Sorry, how you stress words. How you lengthen vowel sounds, reduce vowel sounds. These things happen in English and only in a few languages. It doesn't happen in every language. Pace and cadence, pauses and phrasing. Now there are two main types of rhythm. Syllable timing and stress timing. When it comes to languages. Okay. When it comes to languages and the rhythm in languages, there are two main types of rhythm. Have you ever heard of these two? Syllable timing and stress timing. Yes or no? Let me know in the chat so I know. Good. Okay. So some say no. No. Okay, good. So this is going to be really interesting for a lot of you who are new to this. In syllable timed language, do you remember what syllables are? We talked about it in the first session. A syllable is the smallest unit in a word. It's usually comprised of one vowel sound and it's the smallest unit in the word responsible. Four syllables. Responsible activity Dog. One syllable. Apple. Two syllables. Continue. Three syllables. Okay, so this is a syllable. When you say a word really slowly, you would usually say it in syllables. You'll say the syllables separately, and that's in any language, not just in English. So in syllable timed languages, the space between syllables is equal. Just like I did now. Just like I did now. Every syllable receives the same beat. I have a lot of examples. So if this is confusing, don't worry, I got you. Okay? In stress timed languages, the space between stressed sound syllables is equal. So look at the difference. In syllable timed languages, the space between all syllables is equal. So the space between all syllables is equal. And in stress timed languages, the space between only stressed syllables is equal. Now the rhythm of English is stress timed. A lot of languages are syllable timed. And this is where the trouble begins. Because if your language is syllable timed, you're used to a certain type of rhythm. And then if you're trying to speak in English, you're trying to fit in your own rhythm into English. And sometimes it doesn't serve the language as well. It doesn't serve even the meaning. And then how you deliver the message doesn't fit feel precise. Okay? And this is why we want to learn more about rhythm. So I think I gave that example in the past. But imagine, you know, someone singing a song really, really slowly or they are an opera singer and they're used to singing operas and then or classical music. And then they need to sing a really upbeat pop song and they, they've never sang a pop song before. And that might be a little different for them to sing a song that they're familiar with, let's say like maybe an aria from an opera that they usually sing. And now they have to sing it as a pop song. They change the rhythm completely, to sing it staccato and to sing it fast. So it's not going to happen naturally. Right? Because their natural tendency is to sing it how they know it. So it's somewhat the same thing. Now, using the rhythm of English, and this is why it's important, what we're doing here today will help you understand English speakers better, deliver your message more clearly and feel more natural in the language. If you've ever felt like something that you're saying just feels a little off, and you know that the pronunciation is okay, the words are okay, and the grammar is okay, and the intonation, okay, you're practicing it, but. But something is off. It just doesn't fit. A lot of times it's because of rhythm. And when you understand the rhythm, it's a lot easier to implement it. And then it feels more natural. Because I always feel that people who are exposed to English, they have. They know how it needs to sound. It's in their head. And then whatever comes out of their mouth is different than how they hear it in their head. And this idea is relevant for sounds. So sometimes you might know that the T is not pronounced the way you pronounce it and you just don't know what you need to do. But a lot of times that is the case with rhythm as well. You say an entire phrase and you feel that something is off, but you don't know what it is. It's probably rhythm. So now let's talk about the difference between syllable timed and stress timed. Okay. Read the sentence out loud to yourself. Good. In syllable timed, every syllable is stressed the same. Every syllable is stressed the same. I'm going to tell you what I think. I am going to tell you what I think. I am going to tell you what I think. It doesn't matter what the word is. It doesn't matter if it's a content word or a function word. It is going to be stressed the same. It is going to have the same emphasis and it's going to have the same space from the previous word. Okay. I am going to tell you what I think. Clear. By all means. You understood what I said? I am going to tell you what I think. I am going to tell you what I think. But you can hear that it's not how I usually speak. Why? Because first of all, there is intonation. Right? And second, remember what we said about content words versus function words? Content words are the elements in the sentence that are usually stressed These are the places where we want to emphasize. So in this case, we're going to go for tell and think. These are the two stressed words. Tell, think, and in a time, in a, in a time stress language, what happens is that there is like this urgency to just get to the main word to the stressed words, and you want to squeeze everything in between to get to that word. So instead of I am going to tell you what I think. So first of all, we want to emphasize it a little bit more by elongating the vowel in the stressed word. I'm going to tell you what I think. Okay. So that's the first thing we did. We stretched the word that is more stressed. So all of a sudden the word tell is a little longer than to before. They were the same to tell, to tell, same rhythm, same length. And all of a sudden I just stretched the word tell by using my voice. I am going to tell you what I think, and I really hope you're practicing with me because these things are, you know, it's great to hear it, but you won't be able to feel it until you try it. You have to learn it through your mouth. This is why pronunciation work is so important, because it helps you understand things better. So listen to it through practicing it with your mouth. I am going to tell you what I think. Now we want to speed up and squeeze a little bit all the parts that are less important. So instead of I am going to, I am going to. I'm gonna, I'm gonna. Right. I'm reducing it. This is not slang. This. These are reductions that happen when anyone speaks. British speakers, American speakers, all like, it's not something that you say. Oh, American speakers, they reduce it and then they don't sound clear. No, it happens in all accents to some degree. In American English, yes, you'll hear more reductions, but it's about the phonology of the language, how the language is organized in the brain and created and not, you know, habits. So instead of I am going to. I'm gonna. I'm gonna. I'm gonna tell. Tell you turns into ya because we reduce it. What I, what I and then think remains strong and long. I'm going to tell you what I think. I'm going to tell you what I think. I am going to tell you what I think. I'm going to tell you what I think. I'm going to tell you what I think. Sometimes you'll hear people reducing it even more. I'm going to tell you what I think. I'm going to tell you what I think. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not encouraging you to do this right now, especially if you're first starting out. I don't think these reductions, such intense reductions, are right for everyone, especially if it's hard for you to still speed up. But I want you to play around with it. I want you to feel it in your mouth and to see what it does to your rhythm and how your brain and body are going to try and resist it. Because you're going to try to resist it. I'm going to tell you what I think. And sometimes people even say, I'm going to tell you what I think. It's so reduced. And the funny thing is that you won't even notice it when you hear it because your brain picks up on tell and think. I'm going to tell you what I think. And your brain fills in the gap. I am going to. But if you're just starting out with this work or learning English and all of a sudden you hear I'm telling you what I think, it feels like I just spoke too fast or I just swallowed my words, which I did, but it was deliberate because this is the rhythm of English. Doesn't happen with every phrase, but it's, it's very, very common, as you'll see. Now let's again compare the difference between syllable timed and stress timed. What do you want? How many syllables do we have here in this entire phrase? How many syllables overall? What do you want? So syllable timed languages would emphasize every word the same, every length. Every syllable is going to have the same length and also the space is going to be the same. 4. Very good. What do you want? In stress timed languages, the stress is on want and everything is reduced prior to it. And we reduce function words. So instead of what do you? What do ya? Try it with me. What are ya? What Aya. What do you? What are ya? What do you? Takes up more time and space. What are ya? Shorter. What do you want? What do you want? What do you want? Now you can argue that the first version is clearer. It is indeed clearer. What do you want? What do you want? But if you want to immerse yourself in English, if you want to get stronger in English, it's important that you understand that this is how English is spoken so you don't feel frustrated that you're not understanding other people. And this is why it's really important to practice it. So even if you know when you speak, you won't do all of these reductions it's enough that you just understand where to put the stress by raising your pitch. What do you want? Right? That is enough. Elongating and raising your pitch. And even if you can't stress it, or even if you can't reduce it properly, it's still fine. You're still going to be clear and interesting. But when you practice these reductions, your brain is going to open up and you're going to start understanding others so much better. And gradually, you'll start using it more and more. When I learned English, I did not know about all of this, actually. When I trained and I studied speech and pronunciation and all the sounds and prosody, we've never learned about this. I had to figure this out on my own. And when I did, and I was like, imitating things, and I felt the rhythm and I imitated the rhythm. But I didn't know all of these rules until I started investigating it on my own. And also I studied it at the university when I studied linguistics. But when I trained as an actress, I didn't have these tools to understand the difference. And I was like, why does it sound different when I say it than when I hear other people saying it? But the more I did it, the more it started getting into my normal speech. So I did it when I practiced texts. I was an actress, so I used to practice texts, and I used the rhythm. I recorded my friends, I asked them to read it for me, and I did shadowing exercises. So I started using that rhythm when memorizing texts. And then I notice that I'm starting to use it in my real life as well. Because when you practice something and it feels good, you are going to naturally start using it, even when you're not consciously thinking about it, as long as you practice. So back to this phrase. What do you want? Every syllable receives the same beat versus what do you want? I want you to look at something interesting. This is the length of each syllable in a syllable. Timed language, every syllable receives the same beat and the same length in time. Stress language, you'll see that the length of three words is the same as the length of one word. What do you want? What do you want? What do you want? Can you see? What do you want? What do you want? So the secret to American rhythm lies in reductions, where you kind of like take the vowel of the word, let's say for. And you reduce it fur right on. Or I'll take another word. And. And you reduce the small words, and you connect words that are unstressed and stretch the Words that are stressed, basically, when you do that and you need to understand the difference between content words and function words, we talked about it yesterday. Then you can start implementing the rhythm of English. Now I'm going to tell. I'm going to give you some more exercises tomorrow to practice it effectively. Okay. Say this sentence out loud. Let's practice the rhythm. Say it out loud. See how it feels in your mouth based on what we talked about. Let me know in the comments. Your native language, and if you think that your native language is syllable timed or stress timed. Syllable timed is where every syllable receives the same beat. And stress timed is where there are stressed words and you reduce the unstressed words and every syllable receives the stressed words are in the same. The space between the stressed words is the same. Okay, lost my train of thought there for a second, but here we go. Okay, so your first language is. Write your first language and tell me if you think it's syllable timed or stress timed. Yes. So Spanish is indeed syllable timed. What else? Good, good. Okay, keep going. Yeah. So most of you feel. Yes. All right, good. I see a lot of comments. So we're going to continue and I'm going to come back to it in a second. I want to tell him about your party. I want to tell him about your party. This is where every syllable receives the same beat, same space between each syllable. And now we're going to stress the words tell and party. I want to tell him about your party. I want to tell him about your party. I wanna. I wanna. I wanna. We're reducing a bit more. Tell him about your party. I want to tell him about your party. I want to tell him about your party. And if we're connecting the words together, you might even hear a ch sound. I want to tell him about your party. I want to tell him about your party. Good. Let's practice a bit more. Are you ready? This is going to be fun. I want to show you with a simple exercise what it actually means to speak a language that is stress timed. So here's a phrase where you have three words that are stressed. Three content words. Chefs bake cakes. Let's all say it together. Chefs bake cakes. Chefs bake cakes. What we're going to do now is we're going to start inserting a lot of small function words in between to change the meaning a little bit. But we are going to keep the same rhythm. And to be able to do that, we're going to have to reduce those function words. Chefs bake cakes. The chefs bake the cakes. Right. If I were to say every word on the beat. The chefs bake the cakes. But that's not English. That's not the rhythm of English. The shaf. The chefs bake the cakes. Gotta keep the words in bold on the beat. And in a second, we're going to use a metronome for that. The chefs will bake the cakes. So start squeezing in the words. The chefs will bake the cakes. The next one. The chefs will be baking the cakes. We added two syllables, B in the ing, and we still have to keep the same rhythm. The chefs will be baking the cakes. The chefs will. The chefs will have been baking the cakes. Will have been. Will have been. Will have been. Will have been. Will have been. Will have been. The chefs will have been baking the cakes. Another one. Now we're squeezing in another content word. Sweet. But we're going to say it quickly because the stress falls on the word cakes. The chefs will have been baking the sweet cakes. The chefs will have been baking the sweet cakes. Now I'm going to play a metronome, which is this. Can you hear it? This is our rhythm, and we're going to stick to this rhythm, and we're going to start saying these phrases and keep the rhythm. So every time you hear the beat, we say the content word. Chefs bake cakes. Let's just do the first one together. Chefs bake cakes. A few times. Chefs bake cakes. Chefs bake cakes. Put thumbs up if you're practicing with me out loud. Chefs bake cakes. Chefs bake cakes. Now I'm going to continue. Okay, so we're now going to do it, and we're going to start reading it line by line and keeping the rhythm. Chefs bake cakes. The chefs bake the cakes. The chefs will bake the cakes. The chefs will be baking the cakes. The chefs will have been baking the cakes. The chefs will have been baking the sweet cakes. How are you doing? Let's do it again. Chefs bake cakes. The chefs bake the cakes. The chefs will bake the cakes. The chefs will be baking the cakes. The chefs will have been baking the cakes. The chefs will have been baking the sweet cakes. Very good. Were you able to make it? Now? I'm going to make this a little bigger so it's easier for you. And we're going to do another one. The last one is more complicated. I know. Let's practice the last one. The chefs will have been baking the sweet cakes. Baking the sweet cakes. Baking the sweet cakes. Just say that. Baking the sweet Cakes. So we got to get used to saying some words a little faster. Baking the sweet cakes. Baking the sweet cakes. Now the whole sentence. The chefs will have been baking the sweet cakes. Good. So obviously, as a side note, we don't need to speak like there's a metronome playing. And no one is speaking like there's a metronome playing. But this is a really good exercise to see how you can squeeze in words. No matter how many words, if it's 1, 2, 3, or 4, you want to squeeze it and you still keep the same rhythm. This is a strut timed language. Let's do another one. Okay. Without the metronome first. People write stories. Okay, let's do it again. People write stories. People write stories. The people write some stories. The people write some stories. The people will write some stories. The people will write some stories. Pausing to be able to say will. Really quickly, you have to reduce it. The people will write some stories. The people will write some stories. The people will be writing some stories. The people will be writing some stories. The people will be writing some short stories. The people will be writing some short stories. This is also a tongue twister. We didn't make it easy on you, you know. Some short stories. Some short stories. Some short stories. Some short stories. Some short stories. The people will be writing some short stories. The people will have been. Will have been. Will have been. Will have been. The people will have been writing some short stories. The people have been writing some short stories. Stories. Good. Let's do it with a metronome. So we're doing it at 80 bpm. I just googled metronome, and I'm playing it, and then we're going to speed it up a little bit. Okay? So to start it, we're going to say the first sentence five times, and then I'm going to give you a cue, and then we're going to do it sentence by sentence. Okay? People write stories again. People write stories again. People write stories. People write stories one last time. People write stories. Next. The people write some stories. The people will write some stories. The people will be writing some stories. The people will be writing some short stories. The people have been writing some short stories. Good. It definitely got me. If you got it right, then you get a gold star. Let's do it again. People write stories. The people write some stories. The people will write some stories. The people will be writing some stories. The people will be writing some short stories. Jesus. Again. We're gonna do it again. I haven't practiced it enough. The People will be writing some short stories. Again. The people will be writing some short stories. The people have been writing some short stories. Very good, Hadar. You got it. All right, everyone. Yeah. The last one, I didn't get it, But I'm gonna challenge myself and you. We're all in this together, and we're going to go to 90. Yes or no? Should we go to 90 a little faster? Some short stories. Some short stories. Some short stories. Some short stories. Okay, Practicing. Let's do it together. Let's go. Okay. People write stories. Stories. The people write some stories. The people will write some stories. The people will be writing some stories. The people will be writing some short stories. The people have been writing some short stories. Yes. Did you get it? Yes or no? Let's do it again. People write stories. The people write some stories. The people will write some stories. The people will be writing some stories. The people will be writing some short stories. The people have been writing some short stories. Yay. Oh, my God. My tongue needs a rest from this. If you guys tried it with me, just trying it with me, you know, you deserve a medal. Really? Okay, good. How was it? Yay. You did it. Now, again, this is supposed to be fun. If it didn't, you know, work out, if it was confusing, if it was challenging, it's okay. The idea is to try different things. It's to play around with it and to, you know, push your boundaries, which is what I did right now, doing it live in front of 600 people without practicing it properly, obviously. Okay, good. All right. Did you get it? Like, did you get the meaning of squeezing words and keeping the rhythm of the stressed words? And someone was asking me, but how do I know what the stressed words are? We actually talked about it yesterday. So if you haven't seen day three, we talked about pitch and intonation, and in that, we talked about content words and function words and what words you stress. So I don't want to go into it right now. You can go ahead and watch the replay. And if you forgot about it, then it's the second part of the training where we actually talked about what words to stress. Okay, good. Okay, chunks of words. This is another exercise that I love, so we're going to practice it now together. How would you say this word in a reduced way? Okay, wait. There's a really good question. Why don't you stress the word short in short stories? While short is indeed a content word, it is not a stress content word. Because we said we don't stress every single content word. Because then we're going to sound like robots, like I just did. Only when we really want to emphasize something. Usually when you have an adjective and a noun, the noun is the stressed word and the adjective is unstressed. It's not reduced. We never reduce the vowels in content words. This is how you distinguish between an unstressed function word and unstressed content word. It's just going to be a little lower in pitch and you'll say it faster, but you won't reduce the vowel ever, ever, ever. In a content word, however, the stressed word gets more pitch and is longer. Short stories. Short stories, Right. Do you hear the difference? A big table. Big, big table. If I choose to stress the adjective, it's a big table. Then that's focal intonation, where I put the focus on big. And then immediately notice what you're thinking, oh, it's a big table. Because maybe someone's thinking it's a small table. Right? So when I stress the adjective, it's usually like an irregular way to stress phrases. Because what people expect to hear is the noun stress when you have an adjective and a noun. Okay, what. How would you reduce the word? What? You reduce the vowel there. What do you. What do you. What do you. What do you. What do ya. What do you want? Finally, we have the word want. Want is stressed. But everything up until there is reduced. What. What do ya. What do you want? Let's do it together. What. What do ya. What do you want? What, what do ya. What do you want? What do you want to do? What do you want to do? What do you want to do tomorrow? What, what do ya. What do you want? What do you want to do? What do you want to do tomorrow? What do you want to do? What do you want to do tomorrow? What do you want to do? What do you want to do tomorrow? What? What do ya. What do you think? What do you think we did? What do you think we did to him? Let's do it again. What, what do ya. What do you think? What do you think we did? All of a sudden, the stress shift shifted from thing to did. What do you think? What do you think we did? Okay, so everything was faster. Up until then. I did not say the word think in the same way in the first. In the first phrase with the word think, what do you think? Think was stressed. But now I shift the stress to did. What do you think we did? Did. Was stressed. What do you think we did to him? To him is not stressed. Functional words. What, what are ya. What do you think? What do you think we did? What do you think we did to him? I use a lot of hymns today. Not enough hers. What. What do you. What do you do now? I love this example. Listen like, we have the word do twice. What do you do? Two different sounds, two different pronunciations. Completely notice the difference. What do you do? The first do sounds like this. What a. What a What a. Why? Because the. The oo sound is reduced to a schwa. We haven't talked about the schwa. If you want to learn more about the schwa and other sounds of English, then you will have to continue with us into new sound where we open doors next week. And then we go deep into everything that I taught you here. But for now, if you have no idea what the schwa is, this is the neutral vowel sound that I keep talking about. When I say reduce it. Do D, D. Now, also, when you connect the do to the t and it's between two vowels, connected speech, mind you. What a. It becomes a flap T or N A D. What a. What a. Yeah, do. And here we have the proper pronunciation. Same word, two different ways of pronouncing it and hearing it. No wonder it's confusing. What do you do? What do you do? Different lengths. Duh, Do. Duh, do. What do you do? Are you practicing with me? What do you do for work? What do you do for work? Now listen to how I pronounce do here. What do you do? Do, do. So I didn't reduce it completely, but it was a lot quicker. I didn't say what do you do for work? That's too much. That's a short phrase. We don't want to stress too many things. So if it's only what do you do? Then do gets the stress. It's long. If work is the stressed word, then the other do is going to be short. What do you do for work? It's about the stressed words. I want to get to my point. I always say that American rhythm and pronunciation, or English rhythm and pronunciation intonation is, you know, you kind of like, you use the pitch, you use the rhythm to support your message. It's almost like you want to spoon feed the person in front of you with what's important. You don't trust that they're going to listen to you. So I'm going to. I'm going to make it easy for you. Okay? I'm just going to highlight the stress words. I'm going to say them longer and they're going to be more noticeable. So you don't lose patience with me, okay? So that I don't lose your focus. It's like if you were to read a script that was all, like, you know, small font, no punctuation, it's not formatted, it would be really, really hard to understand it. But imagine now, like, reading, where everything is like, some words are smaller and some words are bigger in bold, and it's formatted nicely and it's punctuated, it'll be a lot easier for you to read it. And because we tend to skim the text when we read books, if we would see, like, words in bold, our eye is going to catch it right away, right? And our brain is going to catch those words more quickly and therefore the message more quickly if we do indeed bold the right words. So it's the same with speaking, okay? If it's clear to you how it works in writing, understand that it's absolutely the same in speaking. And if you don't have the tools to know how to do it in English, then you are holding yourself back or preventing an important tool and element in speaking that could serve you significantly when communicating in a second language and feeling comfortable and feeling like it all clicks and matches to how it sounds in your head. What do you do for work these days? Now, notice here, I kept work as the key word. What do you do for work these days? Because it's like, less important. Even though days is a content word, let's practice it together. What. What do you. What do you do? What do you do for work? What do you do for work these days? Very good. Oh, another one. What? How would you say the next phrase? So we practice. What do you. And we said, what do you. What do you do? What do you do for work? What do you want to drink? What do you want to eat? What do you want to talk about? Right? But now we have this. How should we say it? What. What do ya. What are you doing? What are you doing for lunch? What are you doing for lunch today? Have you noticed something suspicious here, my friends? What do you and what are you sound exactly the same because of reductions. What do you do? What do you want? What are you doing? What are you doing for lunch? No wonder it's so confusing for learners who are just starting out or who've never learned this. It's like, oh, now it makes sense. Now it makes sense that I never get the difference between what do you and what are you? Because they sound exactly the same. Let's practice it together. What. What are ya. What are you doing? What Are you doing for lunch? What are you doing for lunch today? Good. Very good, my friends. Okay, bonus practice. Are you ready for some singing, my friends? Let me read some of the comments to see if there are questions. Francisco was writing what Aya. And yes, waria with a flap. Like what sounds like a trilled R in Spanish, for example, rara. That's the flap. T and D. And that's what we hear in the phrase, what do you and what are you. Okay, good. By the way, I was requested to turn on, I have to say it by one of my subscribers on YouTube. I was requested to turn on the captions while teaching live. And I just wanted to tell you, if you're listening, if you're watching this right now, that we couldn't do it. Technically, it's impossible. This is why. So, because we were using a streaming software and it's just impossible to do it. So I apologize, I did not get back to you. Okay. It bothered me. Practice with songs. So here's the thing, and this is something interesting to pay attention to when you listen to songs in English. Like, we listen to it and we say, okay, it's the rhythm of the song. But here's something interesting if you really, really pay attention to how people choose to compose songs, how they choose to write the music of the song. First there are the lyrics, usually, right. Sometimes it's the other way around. But first there are the lyrics. And then the, you know, the singer, songwriter, or the musician is looking at the lyrics, and then they create the music around it. And why is it so important? Because you'll notice that usually the function words always get the short beat. Not always, because always is a very demanding word here, but it usually receives a shorter beat or rhythm note when singing. So you can learn a lot about American rhythm by listening to how songs are composed. I used to work one on one with students that used to come to my home. That was like 15 years ago when I first started teaching this. And I had a lot of musicians, so I speak Hebrew. I had a lot of Israeli musicians coming in. And what they would ask me to do is they would come with their song. So they wrote a song in Hebrew and they composed it so it already had a melody. And then they said, okay, now I want to translate it to English. And they would only translate the meaning, right? They would look at the meaning and they would turn it into a poem or a song, and then they would try to fit it to sing it. And every time they would practice singing it, something was off and the reason is that when you compose a song, you base it on the rhythm of the language, of the number of syllables, of the stressed syllables versus the unstressed syllables. And it's impossible to translate a song in a. You know, without taking that into consideration and still keep the actual melody of the song. Okay, so I want to show you a cool clip that I actually came across today about a conductor who is trying to teach the rhythm of a very complicated piece by using words to show them how the rhythm works and why. Because you remember that we said some syllables are short, some syllables are long in a sentence, and it's the same with words. So I'm going to play the audio, I'm going to play the video, and then I'm going to explain it. Ready? Let me just play it full screen. Okay. Trumpet, trombone, gorilla code. Like this. Watermelon, Castle. Blueberry. Watermelon, taco, blueberry. Watermelon, taco, blueberry. Watermelon, taco, blueberry. Write that in. It's stupid, but it works. Okay? Stupid, but it works. Watermelon, taco, blueberry. What makes the difference? What makes the rhythm change here? Watermelon has four syllables. The primary stress is at the beginning. Da, da, da, da. Taco has two syllables, right? So all of a sudden, you take those two syllables, you stretch them out, and the first syllable is stressed. Watermelon, taco, blueberry. Blueberry has three syllables. Da, da, da. The stress is on the first syllable. So now, knowing that, pay attention again to how she explains the rhythm, which I find really interesting. So words have rhythm, and it depends on how many syllables you have in the word, but also where the primary stress is, that's within words. And the same thing goes to sentences. Okay, good. Now I'm going to play the song. Killing me softly with his song. And we're going to listen, we're going to look at the lyrics, and we're going to listen to the rhythm. Ready? Singing my life with his words Killing me softly with his song Killing me softly with his song Telling my whole life with his words Killing me softly with his song Come. Good. All right, so we have the lyrics on the left and the rhythm on the right. And we can see that we have a stressed syllable. Unstressed, unstressed, stressed. And usually the unstressed syllables are function words or the unstressed parts in a word with more than one syllable. Strumming my pain with his fingers. So we have stressed, unstressed, unstressed, stressed. Unstressed, unstressed, stressed. We're going to look at it here. And we're going to play it again. I'm going to pause every now and then. Strumming my pain with his fingers. Do you see it? Strumming my pain with his fingers. So the stressed words are where the beat is. And you can hear how the word, the note is stretched in the song. Listen to the next line. Singing my life with his words Singing my life with his words Squeezing everything in between Killing me softly with his song Killing me softly with his song. Try to say it on top of the music. So we hear. Now here's something interesting. The word his is stressed. It's a function word usually, but sometimes you do stress, function words. That's vocal intonation. Killing me softly with his song. Not my song, his song. And then at the end, Killing me softly. Let's listen to the end with a song. So song is stressed and his is reduced. And you can hear the rhythm of the beat and how the. The. The note is stretched when. When she's singing. And we can. You know, we can notice that some parts are shorter and some parts are longer. Try another song. And nothing. Nothing is going right. So listen to the rhythm, Close your eyes and think of me. What are the stress words? And soon I will be there to brighten up even your darkest night. Okay, I killed the joy by stopping the music here. Now I'm gonna play it again, and look at all the reduced words, and you're gonna sing with me, okay? And every time you see the reduced word in gold, you'll notice that the note is really short in the song because it's less important. And the stress is on the longer word. And usually the note that is a little higher. Ready? Wait. When you're down reduced and troubled and you need some love and care and nothing it's not and nothing is going right. Are you singing with me? Close your eyes and think of me. I will be there to brighten up your. Even your darkest night. Yes. All right. You're singing with me. Sorry, the song stopped because I didn't want to continue forever. But maybe at the end of this training, we can sing it together. It's actually a tradition that I used to have inside my live trainings. Okay. All right. Can you see it? Can you feel it? Do you notice that when you sing, you don't think about it, but rhythm is easy for you. If I were to ask you to sing the song, you would immediately reduce some words and say some words and sing some words a little longer. It's not any different when Speaking, it's just a habit. So if you're able to do it, if you were able to sing along with the two songs that I had here for you or any other song, then it's possible for you to do it in English when speaking as well, even though it might feel hard. Okay? Rhythm is rhythm. Length is length. Remember, it's just habits. Now, tomorrow we're going to talk about how to change speaking habits, why it's so hard, and how you can change them, but you can. It's possible for you. And, you know, it's not that you're not going to be clear if you don't reduce words, but if you want to feel like you are really pushing yourself to reach a breakthrough, to get to the next level, to, you know, feel like, oh, you know, I want to feel like myself. I want to feel authentic. I want to feel like, you know, there isn't a gap between how I hear it in my head or how I hear it when others speak and when I speak. Then there's no reason why you should be able to do this. I was able to do this. This was not possible for me before. I'm not lying. I wish I had recordings from where I was 18 or 20 or 21. I don't, because I do, actually. But it's when I speak in a Scottish accent, maybe I will share it with you one day, but I don't, because I didn't even have a cell phone back then, but if I did, you would hear that I sound different and what I'm doing, what I've done to get to where I am today. And again, I don't think that the way I sound is any better than how you guys sound. But I do feel that understanding how everything works gives you permission and the freedom and the clarity to say what you want and get what you need and to connect with others. And if even for, you know, like, there is this part in you that says, but I want a little more, I deserve a little more, then I want you to know that this is definitely possible for you. Okay? Today we learned what rhythm is. We talked about the rhythm of English, reductions in English, and how to practice the rhythm of English. Okay? In songs, for example, I invite you to download the workbook. If you haven't yet. If you're watching this on YouTube for some reason, you're not subscribed to the challenge, to the training, and then there is a link for you to sign up for the training, to watch all the replays, to join the conversation group and practice group that we have coming up today. And you can download the workbook and answer day four questions in the workbook. Tomorrow, day five, we are going to talk about effective pronunciation practice. Effective pronunciation practice. Say it a few times. Effective pronunciation practice. Okay, Any questions before we wrap up? Thank you. It seems, according to the comments, that you enjoyed today, it's. It was a little different. And as I told you, I do like to change things up. So we didn't share like, we never had one session just about rhythm. So I'm glad we got to do it. Okay, wait, more important, it goes by so quickly, I can't see the questions. The stress words are the more important words in a sentence. Yes. So the question was the stress words are more important in a sentence. Yes. And this is why we prolong them and raise them. Now all the words are important. We don't want to kill words. We don't want to reduce them. We don't want to drop words. But there are some words that are more important than others. The words that convey the message, that convey your attitude, that convey the meaning. So if someone does not hear the word because it's not clear or it's reduced, it would completely confuse them versus a word like, you know, on, in, or at that if you confuse them, you know, people are still going to understand that. I'll give you an example. Let's say I'll see you on Wednesday, right? I'll see you on Wednesday. Wednesday is the stress word here. If I were to say, I'll see you at Wednesday, at. At is incorrect. But no, like, people might not even notice that I said at instead of on, right? It doesn't change the meaning. But what if I say, I'll see you on Wednesday, right? Or I'll see you, I'll see you on Wednesday, and I reduce my pitch and I mispronounce the word. That would be like, wait, when are we going to meet? So this is why there is hierarchy. And when I teach my students, I tell them, accuracy is more important than clarity. Take it back. Hashtag, clarity is more important than accuracy. Okay? So get clear, focus on the 20%. And that means that know what are the important words, what the important words are, and make sure you pronounce those words clearly. And the vowels and the stress words are clear and everything else will follow. And of course, the more you practice, the more it becomes a sick, the more it becomes second nature to you. Okay? It doesn't. Like you don't learn it, and then you're able to do it right away. It requires practice, repetition. You know, in my programs there is a lot of teaching, but there's a lot of time for implementation and for repetition and for putting what you learn into practice. Because otherwise you would stay with all that knowledge, but without the ability to use it. And what's the point with that content and free resources to learn those things? You have it for free for the most part. The question is, what do you do with it? How do you organize it in your head? How do you understand what is important for you? And, and how do you practice it effectively so that you can actually use it when speaking spontaneously without, you know, feeling self conscious or feeling stressed out when you're communicating? That is the question. And I will discuss a lot of these things in the masterclass. I just happen to have this. This is not it. I did have it before. There it is. Hadarshomes.com training. No, that's not it. Hold on, I'm confused. Masterclass training is this. Right now you are in the training, but I also have a master class that talks about other things that are not pronunciation because it's a holistic journey and it's not just about the pronunciation. So if you want to learn more about that, it's a live class. I. I'm going to host three of those next week. It's a limited time session. I'm probably not going to repeat this session. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. I'm almost done with the slides. Slides. So I am excited about it. I hope you can join me so you can go right now. I think my team is going to pop it in the chat so you can sign up before we sign off. And that's it. We have a special guest today. We have Laszlo here. Laszlo, it's so good to see you. Laszlo is one of my favorite students in the whole world. I see that you're here, so I just want to give you a shout out and we love you on the team and sending you big, big hugs and. And all the best. That's it. Oh, this just made my day to see you here. All right, my friends, take care and I will explain. Okay? Some people are asking me about beyond. I have to. Okay, let me, let me explain right now. The, you know, we're going through the pronunciate the pronunciation training and there's the master class next week after that. For those who want to learn more about how you guys can continue with us after the training and after the master class, then we will be Opening doors for my signature program, New Sound. I also have a program called beyond, but right now we are gearing towards Opening Doors for New Sound, which is my signature program. We only open doors twice, twice a year, so there aren't a lot of opportunities to do this. And the reason why we do it just twice a year, because this is an entire project for everyone. We do it all together. It's a 12 week live experience and that is what's coming up. Beyond right now is closed. Beyond is an English practice community. Usually after New Sound, my students continue into beyond so that they can continue the day to day practice with conversation groups. But. But the teaching, like the transformation usually happens in like the new sound is structured more in a way that is that teaches you all the elements for reaching limitless fluency and reaching transformation. Pronunciation is a big part of it, but there are other elements and if you are interested then just stay tuned and we will talk more about that next week. All right, my friends, I want to say thank you so, so much for being here with me today. For being goofy and fun and participating and doing all the crazy things that I asked you to do. You guys are awesome. You rock. Have a beautiful day and I'll see you tomorrow for day five. All right, bye.