Shadowing English Practice with Ana de Armas (SNL monologue + script)

Want to improve your pronunciation, intonation, and humor in English? Join me for the best English practice with Ana de Armas. Could I be any better in English? But I didn't. But I didn't. Howdah, howdah, howdah. Hey, everyone, it's Hadar. Thank you so much for joining me. Today we are going to practice shadowing, and we're going to do that with the Cuban Spanish actress Ana de Armas. Ana was born in Cuba, and when she was 18, she moved to Spain and then to the United States, where she pursued her acting career. But when she moved to the US she did not know any English. She had to spend quite a few months in New York studying English, and she worked on her English and her pronunciation. And today you can see her in some of the biggest movies in Hollywood. And she recently even got nominated for for her performance in Blonde, where she portrayed Marilyn Monroe. And she was the first Cuban actress to be nominated for an Academy Award for best actress in a movie.

I can't face doing another scene with Marilyn Monroe.

And recently, Anna was invited as a guest to Saturday Night Live, where, I don't know if you know this, but at the beginning of each show, the guest has to give an opening monologue. One of my students posted this monologue in one of our private communities, and everyone was so inspired, and they loved it. And I said, you know what? I have to take it and analyze it so that we can all practice shadowing and learn from her speech more about pronunciation, intonation, tone of voice, and even humor in American culture. Let's start by listening to the beginning of her monologue.

Gracias. Gracias, gracias.

All right, we're not going to shadow that. I'm going to let you do it on your own. All right, we're going to move on to the next sentence.

I speak English, but I didn't when I first got to the U.S. all.

Right, so the first sentence, I speak English, I speak English. Something about the intonation makes it a bit more funny. Instead of, I speak English, she's not trying to convince us it's a joke. And then she said, but I didn't.

When I first got to the U.S.

But I didn't when I first got to the U.S. now, I want you to pay attention to the rhythm and the flap T, because these are two things that are great to practice. But I didn't notice how she flaps the T. When the T is between two vowels, you flap it so it sounds like a sound. But I didn't. But I didn't But I didn't. And then she says, when I first.

Got to the US When I first.

Got to the US now, notice the words that she chooses to stress got us. This is how I would stress it as well. When I first got to the US When I first got to the US this is very much the rhythm of American English. When I first got to the US Quick. And then she slows down on the words that she stresses.

I was born in Cuba, came to America when I was 26. And I learned English the way everyone who comes to this country does.

And I learned English the way everyone who comes to this country does. The stress is on learned English comes country does. And I learned English and the way everyone who comes to this country does. And that is the beauty of the rhythm in English. The stressed words are longer and higher in pitch and everything in between is squeezed together and reduced by watching Friends. So this is the joke by watching Friends. I think it's even an internal joke for all English learners because I personally learned English by watching Friends as well when I was 13. So I think this is a joke that a lot of people get on a lot of different layers by watching Friends. So again, watching Friends stresses on Friends. Notice the R sound here round your lips. And make sure that the transition between the F and the R is smooth. Friends. Friends. By watching Friends.

Who would have thought that the best English tutor would be Chandler Bing?

Who would have thought? Who would have thought? This is a very common phrase. Who would have thought? And notice that she doesn't say who would have thought? She doesn't separate every word. She doesn't fully pronounce every word. Everything is reduced. Who would have thought? Who would have thought?

I mean, look at me now. Could I be any better at English?

Look at me now. Could I be any better in English? Now she refers to this scene. Could that report be any later?

Okay, I don't sound like that. That is so not true. That is so not. That is so not that. Oh, shut up.

This is where Chandler's friends are making fun of his intonation. Could I be any better in English? And it's so great because really what she does is illustrate the work that she has done by using intonation to make people laugh.

Acting here was difficult at first.

Acting here was difficult at first because.

I didn't always understand what I was saying.

Because I didn't always understand what I was saying. Didn't always understand saying. Now notice again the rhythm. Because I didn't always understand what I was saying. Notice how she reduces the what I was. She doesn't say, because I didn't always understand what I was saying. Because I didn't always understand what I was saying. So the phrasing and the difference between the stress and unstressed is what allows her to use that rhythm of English and the intonation.

Then I met this guy who had a class called how to Audition.

Then I met this guy that had a class called how to Audition. So even here, how to audition. Notice how she connects the how to. So the T of the word to becomes flapped. How to. How to? How to. You'll hear it a lot when people speak. How to find the right job, how to do it, how to audition. And she connects everything together. You can hear the beautiful connected speech and then also the open ah sound. How to audition. Notice that even though in the word audition you have a and you. It's not odition, but it's only one sound. Ah, how to audition. And you want to connect it to the word to before how to audition.

Just like she does, which was definitely a scam.

Now here I want to talk about her intonation, or even more particular, her tone of voice. She drops down in her voice, which was definitely a scam. And that usually happens when people are sarcastic or ironic. They are making a joke. This is very common for American culture, and you recognize it by someone just going really, really low and saying it with this tone, which is what she does. Definitely a scam.

Definitely a scam. Definitely a scam. Definitely a scam. He had me read a scene.

He had me read a scene. So she stresses had and seen. Now, a lot of you, if you've had some experience doing this kind of work, you might be thinking, wait. But had is a function word. So the answer is yes and no. In this case, the had is the verb. So a verb is a content word, and it's usually stressed. This is why you hear the beautiful a sound here. He had me read a scene. He had me read a scene. So the he is reduced. Had is long and higher in pitch. Me is reduced. Again, read a reduced. Reduced read has the pure vowel. It's not fully stressed, just somewhat stressed. It is a content word. He had me read a scene. She raises her pitch again. Notice the intonation. Rising, falling, rising, seen. Something else is coming up. Let's listen to what that is.

And there was this line. I beg your pardon.

And there was this line, I beg your pardon. I beg your pardon. Now she talks about cultural differences and challenges with understanding the language. Let's Listen.

But I had never seen or heard that phrase. So I thought this character was literally begging.

Literally. Let's just practice this word literally. Literally. This word is extremely challenging for non native speakers, especially. Especially Spanish speakers who have the R sound that we use for the T in the word literally as the R sound. And since there is also an R sound in this word, it can get all messed up in the brain. So let's break it down. An L sound and a sound le, and then the T becomes a flap T, and then a schwa.

And then.

We have an R and a schwa, a reduced vowel R, liter, and then an l again ly. Literally. Literally. Literally.

So when I did the line, I said, I beg your pardon? Give it to me. Then someone else in the class read the line, and I was like, oh.

So I just want to talk about the phrase. And I was like. And I was like, this is a very common phrase that people use to describe their reaction to something. And I was like, really? And she was like, yeah. And I was like, no way. And I was like, yeah, right. So she uses that to tell the story, but also to make it more casual and communicative. So now we're going to skip a few lines to the end for the purpose of not keeping you here forever. And by the way, I do have a script for you for this, as always. So it's all transcribed. The stress words are in bold, they're bigger. You'll see all the reductions. It's going to really help you shadow this monologue with Anna.

I remember the first time my name was in the New York Times crossword. Everyone texted me and they said, you made it.

Everyone texted me and said, you made it. So let's practice the rhythm here. And everyone. It's a little slow. Texted me slow again and said quickly. You made it slowly and higher in pitch. Let's do it again. Everyone texted me and said. And said and said, notice how we drop the D here, not end. Said and said. So it's easier and quicker. You made it. Raise your pitch here.

And I thought I did.

And I thought I did. I thought I did. Stress is on did. That's a lax IH sound. I thought I did. Let's do it together. I thought I did.

But then a couple months ago.

Then a couple months ago. Notice how we drop the th here. You don't have to pronounce it. Months, months, months.

SNL called me and said, anna, we want you to host.

SNL called me and said, anna, we want you to host. Okay. So listen to the connected speech. SNL called me. SNL called me. Do it with me. SNL called me and said, anna, we.

Want you to host.

And said, anna, we want you to host. And said, anna, we want you to host.

Anna was so shocked and excited that all I could say was, and I.

Was so shocked and excited that all I could say was, something's coming up, so let's practice the words shocked, excited, say. And I was so shocked and excited that all I could say was, I beg your pardon.

We have a great show for you tonight.

All right, you guys. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did today. We practiced rhythm and intonation, how to stress words, and how to reduce words. We also talked about tone of voice, phrasing, and pronunciation. Click on the link below for the full transcript and intonation notes to help you practice in shadow this monologue by Ana de Armas. Thank you so much for being here. Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day, and I'll see you next week in the next video. Bye.