How Intonation Makes You Sound More Natural in English

Intonation. Probably one of the hardest things to improve when you're working on your pronunciation and I would say it's the most common thing that people worry about when they're trying to improve their pronunciation. When people first start working with me, often in our first call or first conversation, they tell me that they're worried they sound a bit too flat, a bit boring when they speak and there's just something that's not right when they're speaking in English. There are so many different reasons why this could happen. One reason could be because in your native language, you just don't use as much intonation as we do in English and in British English, we're doing all kinds of gymnastics with our intonation. We're going up and down, we're floating around, we're flying around everywhere. Intonation is quite crazy. Now, it would be impossible for me to explain everything in one video here on YouTube but what I will do is introduce the main tone that I find is missing in most of my students when they first start working with me. Now, that tone is called a rise-fall tone. This is a tone that we use to show emotion, reaction, feeling, positive or negative and it's just something that shows a bit more of a human side to us when we're speaking. So, it's really, really important that we just try and use this a little bit. Don't start going crazy after this lesson and going we don't want any of that. Just use it in the right places and that's what I'll try and give you today. We'll start by imagining a situation. Imagine you're in a restaurant and you order some food and your food arrives, you take your first bite of that food. Now, maybe not everybody but this is a sound that I might make if I think this food is delicious. Now, what I'm doing here is a rise-fall. That is an emotional reaction. I'm not even using words, I'm just making a noise to show my reaction to this food and it's coming straight from my heart. I'm saying, Now, let's try those together. Now, that rise-fall tone shows that I really mean it. Instead of saying, that rise-fall creates emotion, reaction. Now, there are a few different situations where you might find this rise-fall tone but let's stay with this for now when we react to something. Think back to when you were a child, right, and maybe you saw an aeroplane, like a really cool aeroplane flying through the sky. Would you go, or would you say, or maybe just tone it down a little bit. Either way, that's a rise-fall tone and it's a reaction and it's showing that it's coming from your heart, not just being said with no meaning. Instead of just saying cool, you could say, Do you see what I mean? Another scenario. My best friend calls me and he tells me, Elliot, amazing news. I've just landed my dream job. I'm so happy. Now, would I respond by saying, great. That sounds either like I'm busy and I'm not really paying attention or it just sounds like I don't care or it could sound sarcastic because there's no emotion with this reaction I'm giving my friend. Or would I respond by saying, great. Oh, that's great. A rise-fall. Great. That shows my enthusiasm. This is the thing. The more you do that rise-fall, the stronger it is, the more excitable it sounds. Great. Great. Great. Now, I could do this with any reaction word. Fantastic. Amazing. Lovely. Notice how the tone shift is its strongest on the stressed syllable. Wonderful. Amazing. Lovely. Fantastic. The stressed syllable is very important for where the intonation goes. Let's say I've just been on holiday and I'm catching up with one of my students when I get back and my student asks me, how was your holiday? Did you have a good time? I could say, it was lovely. It was lovely, right? Rise-fall tone. It was lovely. The food was amazing. The food was amazing and the weather was beautiful. It was lovely. The food was amazing and the weather was beautiful. Notice how I'm giving this tone to all of the words which create a reaction. The adjectives. The words that really provide something. You don't have to do this on every word. I could just make it on one word. Now, let's just make it sound a little bit more natural and less extra. Thanks for asking, mate. Yeah, it was lovely. The food was fantastic and the weather was perfect. We had such a good time. You don't have to do it on every word. Just do it where it feels right. You kind of have to feel in your heart how you want the word to sound. Think about how you feel when you remember that holiday. That thing that you did and use a rise-fall tone as that reaction to what you're feeling. We can also use the rise-fall tone to show shock. Let's say I meet a lady and I think she looks really young and then when she tells me that actually she's 70 years old, I might respond by saying, 70? I thought you were 20. Being the charmer that I am. 70? 70? 70? I thought you were 20. So, I'm reacting. My best mate buys some new shoes. He tells me they're pink. Pink? You bought pink shoes? You see how I'm using these tones to create reaction, emotion and just to add colour to my speech. Now, in longer phrases where we have adjectives and adverbs, we can actually double up on this tone. For example, he must be completely mad. He must be completely mad. He must be completely mad. Completely mad. Absolutely ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Doubling up on the intonation to make it sound more effective. And again, it can be used with more of a negative response. For example, a common word that we use when somebody says something and we think it doesn't make sense or they're lying, we might say the word rubbish or that's rubbish as if to say you're lying. So, I could respond to somebody by saying rubbish. Rubbish. Meaning you're lying or you're joking. You're joking. In a more natural way, you're joking. Rubbish. Rubbish. And I've taught my students this one many, many times because a lot of them don't know how to use tone on the word really. So, if somebody tells me some news and I'm excited, really? Really? Really? Really? Really? However, if I'm not sure, really? Really? We're using this slight fall into a rise. Really? Really? That's like saying are you serious? Are you serious? Are you serious? That rise full tone sounds more like I'm excited. Somebody's just told me some amazing news. Are you serious? Are you joking? Are you serious? Are you serious? That sounds a bit more like I'm unsure because I'm doing that fall into a rise. I'm uncertain. So, that's the other thing to remember. The opposite of this rise full tone is huh? Just like we hear in films, in TV shows, huh? What did you say? Huh? Huh? It's a kind of unsure, I don't really know, kind of questioning tone. So, just remember that we use the rise full tone to show emotion, to show reaction, to show surprise. All of these feelings that create emotion in a sense, positive or negative. That's terrible. That's amazing. Same thing, but the word gives it different meaning. And then on the opposite end of the spectrum, we will use a full rise tone, to make it sound more like we're not sure. Just start adding this a little bit into your speech. Don't dive straight into the deep end of the pool and start using this everywhere. Just find little moments in your speech where you could try it. And I promise you, it will just add a bit more personality and it will help you find you when you're speaking. Don't make it too dramatic unless it needs to be. It doesn't have to be really, it can just be really, really, okay? Just a little bit, even softer, really, really. Now, I think you can tell I love teaching intonation. I could talk and talk and talk about this all day. Well, in fact, I do because that's my job. So, if you would like to become my student and to work with me, two options. I have a pronunciation course, which includes Monday to Friday WhatsApp support, conversation, questions, practice recordings, anything you need for correction and guidance when working on your pronunciation. Or if you prefer the private coaching route, I also do that. So, whatever you're looking for, head over to my website etjenglish.com. You can book a call if you're not sure what you want and we can discuss things in more detail. Anyway, thank you so much for watching. Oh, this was fun. I hope you are all doing well. Thank you for sticking around. If you watch this to the end, I will see you next time. Cheers, guys. Bye.