How To Understand Fast Speech.

Do you have any difficulties when listening to people speaking fast? Why do you think these difficulties occur?

The following sentences are not written using normal spelling but I am using them as an example of how fast speech looks when you hear it. Try reading each one aloud. Then rewrite them using normal correct spelling.

1. Shwi start now?

2. Dywanna gedda coffee?

3. I hafte leave.

4. Ah ya gonna see yim befor ee goez?

5.  She’s bin prmoted

6. She wz late.

7. Didje go win t the factri?

8. woss appenin?                                        

9. Wen zi gonna getchya  a taxi?

10. Less go we yavent got much time.

Ok if you took the time  to say these sentences out loud and rewrite them correctly, one thing you will have noticed is that  there are linking sounds that appear when words are spoken together quickly and fluently. The sounds used are /j,/w, and /r/. And also  the last letter of a word merges with the first word that follows. Try saying the sentences again, concentrate and see if you can hear and feel these linking sounds.

After you have done that try saying the sentences below very quickly and see if you can hear any linking sounds :

– He’ll be in after three

– I saw a good opportunity

– Could you do it now, please?

– She visited China and India

– Should we go out now?

– Can you see all the figures clearly?

Indeed this is an unusual area of the English language  that I am highlighting in this blog, but I do believe it is of great benefit to become familiar with because many native English speakers you will encounter in your life both professionally and socially will and often do speak quite or very fast.

In future blogs I will post videos that give  us a clear understanding of fast speech and how words become merged and how linking sounds are very common.

For now here is just one more challenge. For each of the following sentences below, decide if there are any consonant sounds that might change or even get lost when speaking in a fast or fluent way. Just to give you a clue many native speakers when speaking very fast often drop the ‘t’ sound in a word so you might hear ‘bu..er’ instead of ‘butter’

1. Did you have a look at this?

2. So, could you tell me her last name again?

3. We went there last week.

4. Do you want to get a sandwhich?

5. What will you do next, Tim?

6. Give me a moment. It’s in my handbag.

So thanks for your attention. I posted dis blog t givya sum idea of ow   English sarnds wen spoken quickly cos i fink iss very yimportant t understand fas speech n bcome uus t wit. 🙂

Good luck wivya English language learning

Simon

Ok English