The Different T’s in American English | Live Pronunciation Lesson

Hello. Hello, everyone. What is up? Welcome to our live lesson. Live pronunciation lesson. Super excited to be here. I hope you are too. Today we are going to talk about one of my favorite topics to discuss and to teach. And that is the different T sounds in American English. How are you doing? Hello. What's up? I'm gonna wait a minute for everyone to join. In the meantime, if you are new to my world, my name is Hadar. I am a speech and pronunciation coach. I help people speak English with clarity, confidence and freedom. I'm a non native speaker of English myself. I had to go through my own accent training when I was in my 20s because I studied acting and I wanted to become an actress and. And I had to do that. I had to acquire the American accent. And then I fell in love with speech and pronunciation. And that is what I do on my channel. I have messy hair and sometimes right before I go live, it's just like it has its own life. So I apologize in advance for that. Hello, everyone. Okay, so the reason why I'm passionate about this lesson is because this is where we go deeper into the way the brain works and the way pronunciation works, or how sounds are organized in the brain and in the mouth. So before we start talking about the different T sounds in English, I want to explain something very fundamental about pronunciation. When it comes to accent training and pronunciation training, we need to consider two things. One is how sounds are categorized in our brain or how we perceive them. We want to recognize that there is also the graphing, the representation of the sound. That's the spelling. And we want to recognize that there is what comes out of our mouth. Okay. What comes out of our mouth is phonetics. It's like the sounds that come out of our mouth. It could be. It's like the actual production of the sound. Okay? And these are the sounds that are created, but there is also the representation of the sound. And. And sometimes the representation in the brain is a little different than what comes out, which is what we're going to talk about today. This is why I'm excited about this. The representation of the sound in the brain is called a phoneme. So it's basically a sound. A phoneme is always a sound. But like I said, the phoneme is not always the same as what comes out of the mouth. And there is also the actual representation in the spelling, the grapheme, which is the letter that represents the sound. Okay, so here's an easy explanation. The letter T usually represents the phoneme T. That is, this is how the brain Categorizes it the way we pronounce the T, or the way native speakers, let's say, pronounce. The T is not always T. Could be T. Could be. Could be. Could be ch. All of them represent the phoneme T. The sounds that are created, the different sounds that are represented by the same phoneme. In our case, the T are called allophones. So allophones are the manifestation of a sound that is represented in the brain. Now, in many languages, in most languages, everything is equal. But what do I mean by that? There is a letter, and there is a phoneme, and there is a sound, and they're all the same. Okay? In most languages, this is the case with a caveat. They're. They're in. In many cases, it is the same. In English, it gets interesting because it's not always the same. Sometimes it is. So, for example, the letter R, okay, represents the phoneme R. R. Right? And the sound is generally R. If we're talking about American English, usually when you see an R, it's R. Okay? So that's pretty consistent. That is not the case with T. And that is what we're going to talk about today. Are you ready? What are we discussing? I'll tell you what we are discussing today. Today, we are discussing the different T's in American English and specifically in American English, because there are different allophones, AKA different T sounds in American English than in British English. And if we have time, we can talk about the difference, and we can talk about that. Any questions so far? Thank you for joining us. Good. Oh, we have first timers here, so welcome to my channel. All right, so let's talk about the different teas. Let me make it a little bigger because you deserve more. You deserve this. Okay, let's start with the T. I call it the regular T, which is the T that is aligned with the phoneme T. The T that exists in many other languages. And that is like the most regular T that you can find, as we see in the word stay. In this case, the tip of the tongue goes up and you just release it slightly. Ta, ta, ta. That is the regular T. The fanim T. The basic T, the true T. T, T, T. Stay. Say it. Stay. If you tend to add an E at the beginning and say este, try to start with the S. Stay. Good. That's our starting point. However, this sound only appears in specific cases when there is a cluster at the beginning, like the st. Okay. Or in other cases. But usually when the T is connected to another sound that comes Right before it, and it opens to a vowel. Stay. Stay. Now, as you can see, I put the ipa, the International Phonetic Alphabet, and you'll see how we distinguish between the different T's, the allophones of the T in ipa. Because in spelling, it's going to be the same. But when we use ipa, the International Phonetic Alphabet, we have different ways to represent this T so that you know that it's actually this T and not the other t. And some of them are very distinct. Okay, let's look. We're. We're going to come back to this. Let's look at this word. So if I were to use the. The regular T, I would pronounce it like this. Cat. Cat. That's the regular T, the original T, if you may. The phoneme of the T that is represented by a very pure neutral sound, T. Cat. However, in American English, this is not how you pronounce it. Also, in British English, when the T is at the end or before a consonant, it is a held T, which means that you hold it, you don't release it. This is how you write it with, like, a little doorstop. This is how my speech teacher used to call it. Listen. Cat. Now, for those of you watching, please say it out loud with me. It's not enough to hear it. It's not enough to listen. Even if you have people around you, don't be shy. This is how you learn. Own your speech practice. Put a T at the end. Hell, T. Cat. Say it out loud. Cat. And then you can ask questions so you know if it feels right or not. Stop T. Hell, T. Both are the same. We call them either a stop t or a held T. Okay. Cat. Cat. I stop the air here in the lips. Cat. Or here in the throat with a glottal stop, which we'll talk about. Cat. Okay. There are two ways to stop it, but the idea is that the T at the end of words is usually not pronounced. Now, you will find native speakers who Pop it. Cat. There are many different dialects where you will hear people pop the T, but sometimes you don't. Wait, get hat. Okay. Now, it doesn't matter if you pop it. You're still going to sound great if you pronounce everything else correctly. But it's important for your listening. So treat this not as this is the only way to pronounce these things, but really an opportunity to open your ears, to change the way you perceive sounds, and to recognize that sometimes your brain plays tricks on you and you hear different things than how they're actually pronounced when the T is at the beginning of a word or the beginning of a stressed syllable and there is a vowel right after it's an aspirated T. Aspirated because there is a burst of air right after the T is pronounced. And this is how you. You. This is how you. The. The. The IPA symbol that represents the aspirated T. So this is how it sounds. Tap. With a regular T, it would sound like this. Tap, tap, tap. For native speakers, if they don't hear the aspiration, they might analyze it or perceive it as a D tap, because they're so used to hearing the aspirated T. So, like, that is what indicates that it's actually a T and not a D tap. So you block the air. You allow the air pressure to build up, and then you release it with a puff. It's like almost like you're adding a little H or a little like you're whispering. Tap. And then the P, for those of you who may notice, you can also hear the held P at the end. Tap. Tap. Water. T between two vowels. What happens here? Do you guys know? I know a lot of you know what happens here. How do you call the T that is in between two vowels in unstressed syllables? What happens to a t in this word? Between two. Two vowels in unstressed syllables? Because if it were stressed, the T would be aspirated. City, city. Say it out loud with me. City, city, city. Hadijah says it's an R. To some speakers, it does sound like an R. It's. It's a flap T. It's a flap which is the beginning of a trill. What does that mean, a trill. Is this where you trill the tongue? That sound is usually associated with an R sound. Like an Arabic, Russian, Spanish. Right. There is also a flap. That's just the beginning. Right. Like, the tongue touches the upper palate really quickly, but it doesn't do the whole circle there, like the whole vibration thingy. For the trill. That's a trill. Ra, ra, ra. That's a tap. Spanish speakers, you know the difference between pero and perro? It's really the same. That's what the tongue is doing, a flap and a trill. The T between two vowels is actually a flap. And this is the ipa. City, City, city, city, city. Got it? Good. When the T appears before. Appears at the beginning of an unstressed syllable, meaning that there is a schwa sound. For those of you who know what a schwa is, a reduced vowel and then an N, like in the word curtain. Curtain, you just pronounce it in two different ways. There are two ways to pronounce this sound. It's either what I call a nasal T, meaning that you bring the tongue up curt, like you do for the rest of the T's, but you hold it and you release air through the nose. Okay? So you don't release. It's kind of like. It's a shortcut that the mouth takes. You don't release it through the mouth. Curtain. Not that it's a mistake. You will hear people pronouncing it this way. Kurten. Okay, Definitely in British English. In American English, curt. This is how you'll hear it, and that is how you represent it in ipa. Curtain, with that little N at the top. However, some people may take a better shortcut and stop the air in the throat here in the vocal box, there is, like, this small opening that opens and closes. That opens the vocal folds for the vocal folds to vibrate and air comes out. Okay, Here, if you do this, you hear that basically, you're like closing the space for the air, and then you're opening it, and then that's the. That's a collateral stop. Okay? So sometimes when we have the T before an unstressed syllable and then an N, this is what happens. Curtain, curtain. Now, listen, you don't need to learn how to pronounce it this way. You can perfectly. You can pronounce it. It with a T. Curtain. You can do a nasal stop curtain, a glottal stop curtain. I just want you to be aware of these things because the more you train your ear to hear those nuances, the more in control you are of the sounds and everything that's. That happens in English. All right? When the T appears after an N, you see that there is a relationship with the N sound here. When the T appears after an N in unstressed syllables, it is often dropped. Okay? So in this case, it's not incorrect to say winter. A lot of people say winter. I sometimes say winter. But in many cases, especially in fast speech, when people speak, they drop the T. Winner. And yes, it does sound like she's a winner. And I hate the winner because I like the summer. Okay? Winner. Winner. So when the T appears after an N in unstressed syllables, it is often dropped. And one more T that we added here. When the T appears before an R. I know it's confusing. It's a lot of T's. When the T appears before an R, it's not a T anymore. It's a ch sound, like in the word train. Okay. It's like the tongue is taking a shortcut, and it's creating a sound that is closer to the R sound. It's like, I'm just gonna get closer to the R. It happens to end up being like a ch sound. The reason why we have all these different pronunciations is really like this idea of shortcuts. The T, which is in a very strategic position, gets closer to the next sound or is impacted by the previous sound. And this is why the sound changes. Okay, so a quick reminder. All those different T's are considered T's. They have very different sounds. They're called allophones. They're representation of the phoneme T. So the T is a sound that is represented in the brain. If you were to ask native speakers who have no idea about pronunciation or linguistics or phonetics, they would say, no, I pronounce it as a T. In all these places, they sound the same. They don't even notice that they pronounce it differently because it happens subconsciously. Okay, but. So these are allophones, and the T is the phoneme, and it's usually represented, as you can see, in all cases, it's represented with the letter T. Okay, any questions so far? We're going to practice everything in depth, so don't worry. Good. A lot of you answered my question. Let's practice. Let's do. Let's practice a few words here. Healthy. Just follow me. Okay, we're going to do it quickly, and then there is a quiz. So stay for the quiz to see if you've learned. Feet. Wait. Bring the tongue up. Hold the breath. You can also hold it here with the glottal stop. But right now we're practicing the stop T or held T mark also happens before a consonant, not just at the end of words. White, color. Great job. The other option is. Great job. Pop the T. That is perfectly fine. But in English, usually, especially when there is another consonant right after, you'll always notice that it's held. Okay. It's not released. Great job. Picket. Fence. Picket. I brought the tongue up. Pick it, and then I go directly to the F sound. Fence. I don't pop it. Picket. Fence. It's really a way for the mouth to be more efficient. I know it doesn't feel like it, but when you use the language rapidly and consistently and this is the language you're born into, it's really like a more efficient way to pronounce things. Aspirated T. Remember, you bring the tongue up Allow air pressure to build up. You release the air. Team. I'm exaggerating it a bit. Team. Team. Toes. Toes. The alternative with a regular T. Toes. Team task. You hear the difference with the aspirated T. Team Toes. Task. Enticing. You can find it in the middle of the word as well if it's the primary. Stress, attachment, metabolism. Ta. Good. Let's practice the flap. I don't know why I put the word party here because party is a tricky one. But let's do it. I have. I believe in you. Party. Party. Lighty. Party. And it's okay. Let me tell you a secret. It's okay if the flap T after an R, like in this case. Party Harder. I know it's a D. But the D and the flap T in this position pronounced the same. What other words? Order. It's the same sound. Like the. The D between two vowels and the T between two vowels are both a flap. So writing a book and writing a motorcycle will sound the same. Maybe the. Some people say that the I or the. The. The. The claim is that the I sound before a D is a little longer. So writing and writing. Okay. So. So subtle that we're actually not going to talk about it. They sound the same. Writing and writing. Writing a book, riding a motorcycle. Party. Motive. Catering. Even between words. Because we always connect words together. Get in. Put up. I'm not gonna put up with this anymore. Right on. Good. Good. Nasal T. So now we're gonna practice the nasal T where the air is blocked here and air comes out through the nose. So you can. You can put your little finger or your index finger right here to feel. Feel the air coming out through the nose. Button. Or even just feel it here. Button. But bring the tongue up, release air through the nose. Button. Kitten eaten. I know. This one is challenging. Manhattan. Bring the tongue up, release air through the nose. Hmm. Hmm. Gonna. I'm gonna do this. Bring the tongue up, release air. You have like, this little gap that connects the nose to the throat. Sir. For ga. Now, to make it a little more interesting, we'll try the same words with a glottal stop. To me it's easier. I actually pronounce it with a glottal stop. But N. So what do we do here we lift the tongue up for the T. But we. We make this sound. But let's do it again. But now this is a little advanced, so don't get discouraged. You. If this is challenging, just say button Sound British. Button. Button. Can you button me up? Button. Button. Kitten. Kitten eaten. Okay. No, wait, wait. I just pronounced it with a nasal T. Let's do it again. Lotto. Stop. Button. Kitten. Eaten. Okay. It's like you're doing. You're saying with the tongue up. Okay. Maybe that's easier. Manhattan. It's weird. I know. Manhattan. Manhattan. Certain. I'm very certain about that. Forgotten now. If you have a cold, do not try this at home. Drop T. When the T could be dropped. Not always could be dropped. Okay, it's not a mistake to pronounce the T here. But in English, especially American English, especially in fast speech, these T's are dropped. Center, City, center. Interview. I have an interview today. Advantage. Instead of advantage, both are correct. Two different options. Also in phrases. Doesn't it. Doesn't it sound a little different? Or isn't it true? Isn't it? Isn't it? Doesn't it pointed? He pointed at me. I didn't like it. Now here's a little secret. Oftentimes when the T appears before two vowels, two, no, two consonants, it is often dropped because a sequence of three consonants is hard for everyone. For some more than others. But you could say postpones. According to the rules, this T needs to be a held T. But because there is an S, before and before words are connected. And again, the language tries to be very efficient. And you'll see that a lot of times people drop the T in these cases. So instead of saying postpone, not that it's a mistake, you will hear people pronouncing it this way. But an easier way would be postpone, I'm going to postpone it. Or instead of saying wristband, proper pronunciation with a L. Wristband. Wristband. Drop that T. You don't need it. Best friend. Best friend. Go from the S to the F directly. She's my best friend from high school. Text box. So here it's tricky because you have K, S, T X box. So you stay with the S of the text and then go to the B text box. That's a good question about the word often. I can talk about it. I often talk about it too. First class with a T. First class. That's a first class treatment. You have last chance to join us. It's the last chance to join us. Last chance. Okay, that's a little easier. If you don't want to drop the T, do not drop the T. And then I would encourage you to practice holding it, making it a stop. T. Last chance in speech classes. When I took speech classes in my acting school, my teacher was very adamant about everyone pronouncing. The T properly because it was more about proper English and classical English rather than, you know, contemporary English. So I was the only non native speaker in class, me and another guy, and then all the rest were native speakers. And this is what you worked on with them and making sure that they pronounce the T. Now, this was mainly for speaking on stage and doing Shakespeare and stuff like that. So it would. Back then, it was much better for us to pronounce it as last chance. That's like a more proper pronunciation. But as you know, you go from focusing on projecting your speech or speaking on stage into more contemporary speaking or just seeing what happens, then you'll notice that people do drop it. For people who have a hard time pronouncing a sequence of consonants, dropping the T is a lifesaver. Last chance. Okay? If you don't want to drop it, do not drop it. And then my speech teacher would. You'll get her respect. Good. T that turns into a ch. So when the T appears before an R, it turns into a ch. Trip transfer. Trembling spectrum industry entrepreneur. Can you hear it? Untra. TRA tr. It's not untra. You won't hear it untra, but untra. An interesting fact is that if you have a D and then an R, then it turns into a J sound. The. The D is like a T, but it's voiced. Okay. It doesn't have. We don't have so many Ds, by the way. But this is why, in this case, we see the same things. Okay, Often. Before we go into the quiz, to pronounce the word often is a unique word in a way, and I would treat it differently. And I can tell you that you can pronounce it either with the T or without the T. Okay? So in this case, you can say often, and you can say often. And you can use often, sometimes, and then often when you want to emphasize something. It's up to you. Both are correct. Okay, Which T is this? Say it out loud. Which t is this? Mountain. You see the N. The AI is a schwa. It's reduced so it's an unstressed syllable. T before an N in an unstressed syllable, nasal. Very Good. You get 10 points. Everyone. Not everyone. Those who answered T after and not T after an N. O T after an N is hard. Kevin, you just drop it. That's the easiest one. Just drop it. Okay, but this one is a nasal T. Mountain or glottal? T mountain. Good job. 10 points. Nasal or glottal. Okay, what about this? Say it out loud. Okay. Try to think. What is it? Is it held? Is it aspirated? Is it a flap T? Is it a nasal T? Is it a glottal stop? Is it a ch sound? I'm going to say it. Volunteer. Volunteer. Aspirated. It's not nasal because there is no N. Right. Nasal is because it has to come out through the nose. The N makes it nasal. So if there is no N, it's not nasal. If it's a T before a vowel and it's a stressed syllable, volunteer. Then it's an aspirated T. Very good. Two T's. What's the first one? What's the second one? I'll answer questions at the end, I promise. Okay. The first one is. The second one is fantastic. They're different. I know. They maybe sound the same to you. First one. Fanta. Very good. Aspirated tick. Regular T. Fantastic. When the T appears after an S, it's a blend. So that's like where we hear the regular neutral T in a way. Fantastic. It's not a stop T. We don't say fantastic. Right. That would be a stop T. An aspirated T in this position, in both would sound like this. Fantastic. That's also not how we pronounce it. Fantastic. Good. Good. It's not a flap. It's not a flap. We don't say fantastic. That would be a flap. I want to answer questions Debbie says is important also pronounced with a nasal sound. Yes, Important. Nasal or glottal? Important. Okay. And someone asked about the word variety. What is it? Variety. That's a flap T. Say this word out loud. I hope you don't need it anytime soon. And if you do, you get access to the right one. Antibiotics. Antibiotics. Okay, this is an example where you could do both, because I say antibiotics, but it could definitely be dropped Ni. Antibiotics. But it could also be anti, which is. It's not an aspirated T. It's like a regular T. I didn't write it here. I wrote it in the other one. Antibiotics or antibiotics? If you say it quickly. Questions about this one. It's not a nasal sound. It's either dropped or regular, if you want to pronounce it. Because, like I said, you definitely can pronounce the T after an N. Okay. It's not. It's not incorrect. A lot of native speakers pronounce it and some don't. Some will drop it in some words, like 20 wanted Internet. But then keep it in antibiotics. But you can also drop it. Antibiotics. Good intensity. Intensity. What do we have here? The T is at the beginning of an aspirin of a stressed syllable. Intensity. The ity, a common suffix. Always a flap. Little rule of thumb. Intensity. Intensity. Good. What about this? Say it out loud. Potato, potato. What's going on with the first T? Rajesh, great job. Aspirated flap. Potato, potato, potato, potato, potato, Tomato, tomahto. What about this? Say it out loud. Three T's. The first one can be pronounced in two different ways. Second one, only one way. Third one. One or two? Entertainment. Entertainment. I did pop the T at the end. So option one, you can drop the first T enter, then aspirated. Tainment. Healthy. Or you can pop it mint. Like, if you do, it has to be very minor. You can also say entertainment. Entertainment. And then the first T is a little softer than the second T because the first T is a regular T. Entertainment. Good. What about this? Say it out loud. The ch sound contract. You know this. But notice that the T is in the spelling, but it's actually not the t. Phoneme. It's a sh sound. Okay. This is not an allophone. It's just the T happened to end up being there representing this sh sound. So actually the phoneme is a sh. It's not an allophone. It's a sh. Okay, this is just like a little trick question. Okay? But we see it like reflection condition. Intentional. When the spelling is tion. It's actually not representing the T phoneme, the regular T or the T sound, but it sure sound happens. Okay, let's practice it in sentences. That's the last thing we're going to do today. Okay, so I'm going to read it slow. I'm going to read it normally once, then slowly explaining each T. We're going to do it together and then once normally again. It was great to meet them at the event. It was held. It was great. Held T. I release it. Now. This is unstressed, but it's like slightly aspirated. It was great to meet. Held them at the event. Held at. I stick the tongue out. All right, so this is actually another T. Just so you know where the T is actually on the teeth at. I'm going to put my at the event. It was great to meet them at the event. You can hold the T. You can slightly release it. Both are fine. Now about the Meet them. If you pronounce the th here, then it's a health T. Meet again T on the teeth. Meet them. But in many cases, people will drop the th for the them. And then what happens to the T there. Meet em. It was great to meet em at the event. Now I have to say something about the word to. The word to is weird. It behaves differently if it's unstressed a lot of times, even though it's at the beginning of the word. And technically it's supposed to be aspirated. In many cases it's going to be a flap. Like, I need to go. To go to see her. I need to go to see her. Or I need to get a doctor. Right. I need a need to. Nita. So in many cases the word to almost behaves as if. Like it's just like a small addition to a previous word. And then this is why it is often pronounced as a flap. I'm not going to get into it, but just so you know that this is the case, it's a little different with the word to. Wait. Did we do this? That? Yes. Let's read it once. Okay. No. My sister's apartment is in a quiet part of the city. Wait, I put a stop. My sister's apartment is in a quiet part of the city with lots of little cafes nearby. Let me do it slowly. My sister's apartment. Apartment Held apart. And sister. Nothing interesting here. That's like a regular T is in a quiet part. Now look at what happens here. If I just say it like that. Quiet part. We have two held T's. Quiet part. If I connect it to the next part, then it becomes a flap T. Why? Because I connect words. Connected speech. The T becomes. Changes the position to being between two vowels. Quiet part of the city. Quiet part of the city. Quiet part of the city. Connected. This is why I love teaching the flap T because it helps us connect words together, which is something that is good to be able to do with lots of little cafes nearby. I want to. I want to take a minute and explain the word little because it's a flap T. By the way, the flap T could be spelled with one T or two T's. It's not always when it's two T's. Okay. Just so you know, for example, the word but with two T's not a flap. And the word ability. One T, but still a flap. Okay. So little. You flip the T and then you kind of like pull it into the to to pronounce the dark L. I also almost want you to imagine as if there is like an O sound after the flap T because of the dark l. Little. Practice it. Little battle. Bottle. Seattle. Good. Practice of the flap T and the dark owl. Good. My Sister's apartment is in a quiet part of the city with lots of little cafes nearby. Good. Let's do a few more. How are you doing? Any questions so far? Annotation of the text. It would be a good idea, actually. I was thinking the same thing as I was teaching it. I'm like, I need a. I need my pen here. Next time, I promise. Alexander, I noticed you've got. You've got a talent for spotting details that others often miss. I notice you've got a talent for spotting details that other others often miss. Noticed. Flap T. Noticed you've got the T's at the end. So it's a held T. But if I connect it to the next phrase, you've got a talon held for spotting details that others often miss. You can also say that others. That others. I would say it only if I were to say it fast. That others often miss. It's hard to do the flap T with the phrase that others when you say it slowly, but we can practice both. I noticed you've got a talent for spotting details that others often miss. I would put a little stop after that. This restaurant is fantastic. Especially their pasta and risotto. Say it out loud. This is like a funny comment. I have to share it. Flap T. That's really like how I speak. That's how I sound. Totally. You nailed it. This is like how my daughters would imitate me when they imitate me making videos. This is what they do, what they say. This restaurant. Restaurant. Restaurant. Restaurant. This is a regular tea because it's after an S. Is fantastic. We practiced it already, right? Aspirated tea and then true tea. Fantastic. Especially their pasta. Again, true tea and risotto. Flap T. Unless you're Italian and then you will not pronounce it with a flap T. Risotto. Risotto. I once had an infamous video about six food dishes or foods you pronounce wrong or something like that. Like, that was like, I don't know, feels like 20 years ago. And I. I talked about the pronunciation of the word Bruschetta. Brusqueta. And I got so much crap for teaching to pronounce it with a flap T, which is, I used to work in an Italian restaurant in New York. So, like, this is how all my Italian friends from New York would pronounce it. Bruschetta. Bruschetta. Not Italian. Italians who speak Italian. Like, mind you, they didn't speak Italians Italian, but they were Italians from New York, so they had an Italian dialect. This is how they would say it. So I taught it like that. And then a lot of people who are Italians were like, you are ruining this. It's bruschetta. So this is why I wanted to add this little caveat about the pronunciation of risotto in American English. This is how you would say it. I totally agree with you that it's extremely important. Let's practice it. That's going to be the last one for today, and then we're going to move into questions. So I totally. That's such a good word to practice. Toada. Toada. Aspirated and then flap. I totally agree with you that. That it's. I have to say it with. With flow to make it a flap T. That it's. So the first T of the. That is a flap T, because there is a vowel right after that, it's okay. And then that's a regular T. That it's extremely important. So we have a nasal T and a healthy. Important. Important. If you want to take a shortcut important with a throat, to many of you, it's going to sound the same import. Important or important. I totally agree with you that it's extremely important. Pronouncing the T is just mildly important. It's not extremely important. There are more important things in life. But it's fun to practice. It's extremely important to practice. Now, here is what happens if you want to improve, if you want to get the hang of pronouncing something. So let's say you're like, oh, I didn't know you asked. You pronounce the aspirated T. And. And then you learn how to pronounce the aspirated T. And you want to be able to produce it again and again and again without thinking about it. This is where you have to build habits. You have to. To repeat it again and again in context, in different words and phrases, speaking freely while being conscious of it, pronouncing it consistently with that aspirated sound. That is how you start changing. Okay? So that is how you move from just the practice. So first it's like the understanding, then being able to produce the sound. Right? So first what we did is we learned it, and I told you, hey, there are different teeth. And you're like, oh, perception, then pronunciation. But then you need to create repetition to build habits. Okay? And then you want to speak, use it intentionally. And that's how it becomes a part of your life. If you want to learn more about pronunciation. And I hope my team is here to help me share the link. I have just recently shared a 14 day pronunciation plan. It's absolutely free. It's on my app, the Influency Academy app. So I have an app where I share free resources and this is also where I share my courses. But and created a 14 day plan where every single day you have a different lesson with most of them with speech drills and audio so you can practice it, you can repeat it along. So every day is a different video. We have the th, we have the r, we have the flap T my friends, we have different sounds, intonation, rhythm, stress. So I teach you all of that within 14 days. The idea is, is to thank you team is to build a habit of doing something every single day. So this 14 day pronunciation plan is going to help you just build a habit. It's really easy. You can listen to it on the app, you can practice on the app. Again, it's free and it will really help you understand many of the key sounds that are essential for your clarity. If you want to improve your if you want to acquire an American accent to. To understand the nuances of American accent and ultimately to be able to speak clearly and confidently. It's not just so that you don't sound foreign. It's not about that. There is no issue with having a foreign accent. But we want to be able to recognize the nuances of a language. We want to be clear, we want to understand others. And the best way to improve your comprehension understanding is through practicing pronunciation really. So check the chat and if you're watching the replay, it's in the description. Click the Link, get the 14 day plan to improve your pronunciation in your American accent. Like I said, it's absolutely free. Questions? Any questions? Let's see. Yes, like I see that a lot of people say okay, some someone said the point is replace the letter T with D. Yes. Like mentally that could help only when the T is between two vowels in unstressed syllables. So for example, in the word atomic, the T is between two vowels. Right. But we don't say atomic. Okay. Because it's a. It's a stressed syllable. So we want to be mindful of that. Shadowing exercises can really help. Okay. So take that into consideration. Vitti says the stopping T always gets me. It's kind of hard to say and then just start another word. So great. I agree. And for some it's harder than others. It depends on your first language. Here's what I have to say about it. If you had to prioritize all the different T's, this is how I would do it. Flap T, slash, aspirated T. To me, they're equally important and they make a huge difference. Flap T because. Especially if you're leaning towards American pronunciation, because it helps you connect words together, it has that, like, you know, it helps you become more efficient. You have to be a little effortless with your tongue and your mouth to be able to pronounce it, which is good. Like, we don't want to put in a lot of effort. Right? So the flap T has a lot of influence on your overall speech and aspirated T on your clarity. Because aspirated T is important for clarity. These are the two important ones. The rest are less important. Okay. The rest are like, it's like a nice to have. So if you say wait here, most people won't even notice that you pop the tea. Okay. It's not a big deal. Wait here. So choose your paddles. You know, if you're at a level of fine tuning it and you really enjoy it, then great. If not, spend your time focusing on things that will actually make a real impact on your clarity. So these two first TR is also helpful. So train trust. That's an easy fix, by the way. And then the rest. Okay, that's my tip. If we can make it easy, why not? This is going to be recorded so you'll have a replay. You'll be able to watch it sometimes. In Spanish, with flap T is a soft R. Yes, it is. It's actually like when you look at the ipa. I didn't invent it. It's not a shortcut that I say, oh, okay. This is what we like when you dive deep into phonetics. And I've studied it in my in when I studied linguistics at the university. So it's the same symbol, it's the same behavior. The short Spanish R, as in pero, is exactly the same phonetic symbol as the flap. As the flap T and flap D. Okay. Flap T and flap D, same phonetic symbol, same behavior. There are no other options there. I once saw someone tagged me in a video of someone mentioning that this is not true. That's B.S. like, it's the same sound. If I don't drop the T, do I sound like American accent? Well, it depends where. Which word you're talking about. So, for example, if you say 20 in common words, it will probably stick out because people don't usually say 20, they say 20. And. And people usually don't say wanted. They say wanted. So it will stick out, but it's not going to be if everything else is correct. It would Sound like a dialect or something like that. But antibiotics is. You could totally pronounce the T here. So the more popular or frequent the word is, the more likely for the T to drop when it's after an N. Okay, but it's not about sounding American necessarily. It's more about sounding clear. And you will sound clear for sure if I don't pronounce the t, but I will be understood. Will I be understood? So it depends. If you say, you know, I'm trying to think of a word omic, because you dropped the word in atomic, obviously it's not going to be clear. I think you mean if I drop the T and wanted Internet international. Yes, you will be clear. You will be clear because it's something that happens when. When speakers of different dialects say these words. Okay, Can we learn American accent, American English pronunciation with a song? Absolutely. I think songs are a great way. Songs, shadowing, Shadowing songs. I think all of it as like, all of these, it really depends on you, how you like to learn. So if you like to learn through some experience or to attach an emotion to it or something like that, and that's how it sinks in, then, yes, like, absolutely, it's more likely to stick for other people that might not click. So I don't think that there is one way to learn pronunciation for. For some people, you need to see all the symbols, the ipa, to understand how everything is organized. For others, when they see ipa, International and Phonetic Alphabet, they're like, that's too much. Let me just hear it right. Different people learn different in different ways. Different brains retain information differently, process information differently. You just need to recognize what works and what doesn't work for you. And if something doesn't work for you or you don't get it, let's say if I teach you in a certain way and you're like, I don't get what she's saying. Don't blame yourself. Blame my teaching, by all means. Because maybe the way I teach is not exactly the way you need to learn or the way your brain learns. However, when I teach pronunciation, I take into consideration the different learners and I try to explain it in different ways so that it click with different aids or visual aids or audio so that it clicks. No matter what your learner type is like, no matter how. How your brain likes to learn. This is usually my approach because I recognize that, okay, I think there are too many differences between British and American accent to use your app for learning pronunciation. I'm not Joanna. I'm not sure what this means I do teach American pronunciation, but a lot of the sounds that I teach are relevant for British English as well. If your focus is on British English, then the only sound that is not relevant that I do in the 14 day app or in my courses is the flap T. Because in British English it's not Betty. No, it's not Betty. It's Betty. Betty, like with a light T. Betty. So that's the thing. But just so you know, like, when it comes to sounds, most of the sounds are the same. Some of them are like pronounced a little differently in British English. There is another sound that doesn't exist in American English. The main difference is in the flap T, the T's the R because the R is dropped when there is a consonant right after. And the rest is like intonation, rhythm, stress, all of that, like that other layer. Okay. All right, my friends, I think that is it. Thank you very, very much. I'm going to link again to the 14 day pronunciation plant if you want to explore other sounds. And that's it. The flap tea is there as well. All right, my friends, have a beautiful, beautiful day. I hope you enjoyed it. If you enjoyed it, hit like subscribe, make a comment, share it with your friends and definitely check out my website@hadarchemish.com and that's it. I'm also on social media, on Instagram at Accentsway English. No Hadar at Hadar Accentsway. All those handles, I totally forgot. All right, my loves, have a beautiful day. I'll talk to you soon. See you next time. Oh, next week? Next Tuesday. There is a really cool video that I think you're going to love. So tune in. Subscribe if you haven't. Bye, guys.