The Real Reason You Can't Understand Native Speakers

You have studied English for a while. You studied using books, you went to school, you went to classes, you learned from different teachers, you watched YouTube videos, and you understand everything. But the moment you go and watch a movie, or a TV series, or you listen to native speakers talk, you don't understand, and you can't follow them. Why does this happen? Is there something wrong with the way you learn English? No. I know that it's difficult to understand native speakers. It's difficult to watch movies without subtitles. But why is that? Because they speak fast? Well, that's one of the reasons why it is hard to understand native speakers. They speak fast. But that is not the main problem. It's true that they speak fast, but it's not difficult understanding fast English. There is another reason why you cannot understand movies, TV series, or native speakers. In this video, we're going to talk about this, and I'm going to show you why it is difficult to understand them, and how to train your ear so you can watch movies and TV series without subtitles, so you can listen to native speakers and understand them. My name is Matti, and welcome to my Slow English Podcast. Before we start, if you want to experience learning English with me for free, and try our learning method, we have started our free English mini-course. It is a 10-day mini-course, and during these 10 days, you will receive five full lessons based on your level. So, if you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced, when you are registering, you tell us your level, and we will send you the lessons based on your level. And this is entirely free, just for you to get started with us and experience our method. If you want to try it, go ahead, scan this QR code, or click on the link about this video, and register for free. Okay? Let's go to the lesson. There are two types of English, if you really think about it. There is a learning English, and there is a real English. When you are learning English, you use books, learning material designed for students, or you watch videos on YouTube from teachers teaching you, or you go to classes, or you listen to educational podcasts like BBC Six Minutes English, or VOA Learning English. All of these materials are designed to teach you English. So, the pronunciation, the accent, and the way they sound are deliberately designed for you to understand them. Let me ask you a question. When I am talking to you right now, do you understand what I say? Yes. Because I'm a teacher, and I've been trained to speak in a way to make sure my students understand me, regardless of their levels. So, if you are intermediate, lower intermediate, beginner, you can still understand me. Because I'm enunciating, I'm pronouncing everything very clearly. And this is called learning English. You understand this, and then you turn on the TV and you say, hey, let's watch Avengers Endgame, or let's watch Thunderbolts, or let's watch a movie. You play the movie and you're like, what's going on? I don't understand anything. Because that is real world English. And there is a difference between the two. Learning English is clean. The words are separated. But real life English is not as clean. Everything is linked. They are blended. And there is a gap between real English and learning English. And that gap is why you struggle. That gap is why when you watch a movie, you need subtitles. That gap is why when you listen to native speakers, you cannot follow. You think it's because they speak fast. That's not the main reason. If it was only speed, you could get used to the speed by practicing and by listening enough. But that's not the only point. There are other things going on. And I am going to show you. Let me first show you a very basic sentence. Look at this. Don't you want to come out with us? A teacher would say, hey, don't you want to come out with us? It's easy to understand, right? But what would a native speaker say? Hey, Jack, don't you want to come out with us? Don't you want to come out with us? It sounds fast, but it's not the speed. If you look at it carefully, let me paint you the picture. There are three things going on. The first one is this. Look at the word come out. Do you hear come out or come out? Come out, mouth. You hear the word mouth. It's like as if these two are linked. And that's exactly what's going on. This is called linked speech. Words, when they reach each other, are often linked when native speakers are talking. Come out, come out. The next thing that's going on. Wants to becomes wanna. Wants to, wanna. This is called reduction. So the word wants to becomes wanna. And there is a third thing going on. If you look at the first part of the sentence, don't you, becomes don't you. Don't you. This is called assimilation. There is a third sound coming in. Don't you, don't you. You hear the sound. So three things going on in the sentence. Linked speech, reduction, assimilation. I'm gonna explain these three to you right now, one by one. Let's start with linked speech. This is probably the number one reason why it becomes hard to understand native speakers. Because when you link words, that is when the speech becomes faster. So the reason why native speakers or why movies and TV series sound fast is not because they are fast. It's because they are linked. Let's see why and when linking happens. There are three main rules. The first rule is when one consonant sound reaches a vowel sound, they become linked. Let me give you a couple of examples. It's a very simple one. An apple. You will never hear someone say, I want an apple. An apple becomes an apple. You hear the word napple. An apple. Why? Because N is a consonant. A is a vowel. Link them. An apple. Or here's another one. Turn it off. There are two links here. Turn it. N and I link. Turn it off. T and O. That becomes top. Turn it off. So instead of turn it off, you hear turn it off. Turn it off. Hey, turn it off. Turn it off. Now turn it off. Can you turn it off? Can you turn it off? You see how well it flows? How fast it flows? So that's rule number one of linking. Consonant reaches vowel. They are linked. Now here's another one. When two consonants reach each other, if they have the same sound. Sound, not the letter. Sound. If they have the same sound, you only pronounce them once. What do I mean? Look at this. Black. Coffee. Black ends with K sound. The sound, not the letter. Forget K. What is the sound? Coffee starts with the K sound. So one word ends with K. The other word begins with K. Pronounce it only once. So black coffee becomes black coffee. Black coffee. What do you want, sir? Black coffee, please. Black coffee. You pronounce it once. Or another example. This Saturday. This Saturday. Pronounce it once. This Saturday, I'm going out with my friends. This Saturday. I'm not saying this Saturday. This Saturday, I'm going out with my friends. Or here's another one. Big game. Both of them. Big game tomorrow. Oh, do you want to watch the game tomorrow? It's a big game. Big game. Big game. Or another one. Bus stop. Both of them. Bus stop. Bus stop. Excuse me, where's the bus stop? Where's the nearest bus stop? Where's the nearest bus stop? Bus stop. Now, this one's interesting. Rule number three. When two vowel sounds reach each other, you will hear an extra sound appearing magically out of nowhere. That extra sound is either W or Y. What do I mean? Look at this. Go on. The last sound of the first word is go The second word begins with on. So, O, on. A W is added in between when you were linking them. Why? Nobody knows. Look, it's easier to pronounce it this way. So, go on becomes go on. Go on. Come on. Go on. Go on. I'm not saying go on. Go on. Go on. Or here's another one. I am a teacher. I am. Link them together. I am. A Y sound appears there. I am. I am a teacher. I'm a teacher. I am. I am. I am. I'm tired of this. I am. Yeah. Or here's another one. She asked. She asked. Two vowel sounds. Sounds, not letters. Sounds. She, E, E, the E sound, reaches ask, ask, ask, a sound. So, it becomes she yasked. A Y sound appears. She yasked. She asked. She asked the question. She asked the question becomes she yasked the question. That's linking. And I talked only about the three main rules of linking. These are the three rules you need to be aware of so that the next time you hear a sentence which is difficult, write it down and try to find the examples of linked speech. Little by little, your ears will get used to linking. Now, look at this one example. I ran out of it in an hour. I ran out of it in an hour. If you want to do the linkings, every word here links to the next word. So, it becomes instead of I ran out of it in an hour, it becomes I ran out of it in an hour. I ran out of it in an hour. Hey, what happened? Ran out of it in an hour. Ran out of it in an hour. Ran out of it in an hour. Try to say it. Ran out of it in an hour. See? It's not faster. I mean, it's faster because everything is linked. So, if you try to understand linked speech, faster speech becomes easy to understand. Linked speech is the reason why it's difficult to follow native speakers. Okay. Enough with linking. Let's go to the second reason why it's difficult to understand native speakers. And that's reductions. Reductions are when two words are reduced into a smaller word. For example, going to becomes gonna. I'm going to travel. I'm gonna travel. Want to becomes wanna. I want to travel. Next one is when one verb has me after that. Like, give me. Give me. Give me your cell phone. Let me. Let me. Let me go. The next one is of. Kind of. Kinda. It's kinda sad. Sort of. Sort of. It's sort of interesting. Or with have. Multiple verbs and have. Should have becomes shoulda. I shoulda known. Could have becomes coulda. I coulda done it. Would have becomes woulda. I woulda bought a house. See? I woulda bought a house instead of I would have bought a house. I woulda bought. Woulda. Woulda. Woulda. Woulda. Now, look at this sentence. I could have done it. I just didn't want to. Could have becomes coulda. And want to becomes wanna. Read it again. I coulda done it. I just didn't wanna. I coulda done it. I just didn't wanna. I coulda done it. I just didn't wanna. See? That's why it becomes fast. Reductions. Second reason. And the third one is assimilation. If you are still watching this video, bravo. Congratulations. Go to the comment section and say I'm still here so that I know you're still watching the video. Okay. Let's go to assimilation. Assimilation is when one sound changes into another sound. This is called assimilation. What do I mean? Let me give you an example. When T reaches Y, they turn into another sound. They produce another sound called CH. What do I mean? Got, you, T, and ye are together so they produce the sound CH. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Or the short form would be gotcha. Can't you? Can't you? Won't you? Won't you? So T and ye produce the sound of CH. Don't you? Won't you? Can't you? Got you? Another assimilation is when D reaches Y. They produce the sound J. Did you? Becomes did you. Would you? Would you. Would you mind? Had you? Had you. See? D, Y, J. Or another a bit more advanced assimilation. The sound N from N. Before the sounds P or B turn into M. Let me give you one example. In bed. Where are you? I'm in bed. In bed. In bed becomes in bed because N is before B. In bed. Or green paper. N before P. Green. Green paper. Green paper. Green paper. Pass me the green paper. Or ten past. You want to tell the time and say it's ten past five. Ten past becomes ten past when you say it naturally. Ten past five. It's ten past five. Ten past five. That's another assimilation. So look at this sentence. What you doing. Did you eat? What you doing? Did you eat? Did you eat? What you doing? Did you eat? What you doing? Did you eat? A native speaker would probably not say did you eat but Let's more naturally just say, did you eat? What you doing? Did you eat? Okay, we've talked about all three main ones. Let's go back to the first sentence that we started the video with, which was this. Don't you want to come out with us? Now you would understand this because first, don't you, 天爷 produced the sound 切. Don't you, don't you. Want to, reduction, wanna. Don't you wanna, don't you wanna come out. Consonant reaches vowel, link them, come out. Don't you wanna come out with us? Yo, Jack, don't you wanna come out with us? In this video, I only talked about three things. There are more when it comes to pronunciation. We have weak forms, dropped sounds, stress, which is very important, intonation, which is a full lesson. And for me to make a video about those things too, I must make sure that you are also interested. So if you want to see other pronunciation videos covering other topics, let me know in the comments. And don't forget to give this video a thumbs up, click subscribe, and send the video to one of your friends, one of your friends who's learning English. Do it. Again, if you want to join the mini course, don't forget, it's for free. You can scan the QR code or click on the link above this video. You can join me for free and experience learning English with me. I hope you enjoyed this one. See you soon, bye.