Hey everyone, welcome to the English Fluency Journey podcast.
These episodes were created based on our videos on YouTube for those who'd rather listen than watch.
So happy listening. Hope you enjoy our content.
In this video, I want to share with you a channel that I love to watch and a particular person whose videos I never miss.
The channel name is Wired. They cover a plethora of different topics, invite celebrities, scientists, astronauts, people from all walks of life to share information about themselves and their area of expertise.
And if you're the same pronunciation nerd as I am, you'll be very interested in this man, Eric Singer.
He's a dialect coach. He coaches any accent in any language for actors and other voice and speech teachers and professional dialect coaches.
For someone like myself, his videos are fascinating.
Recently, he did a video where he broke down tongue twisters in different accents.
She sells seashells by the seashore, red leather, yellow leather, unique New York.
She stood upon the balcony. Tongue twisters are a tool that people use to improve their pronunciation and clarity.
Actors use them, TV news reporters use them, dialect coaches use them to teach.
I use them to warm up before filming, so we'll analyze those tongue twisters with him.
And I invite you to practice them with me.
And I highly encourage you to watch this video.
It's linked in the description. In this video, he explains why some tongue twisters are more difficult than others.
Also, you'll see that native speakers mess up tongue twisters as well.
Hard and they make you mess up. A box of biscuit.
Biscuit box. Truly ruly. Proper cough. Copper coffee pot.
And that they take some practice. And this, in turn, shows that it really doesn't matter whether you are a native speaker or a non-native speaker, it takes practice.
Try this. A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits, and a biscuit mixer.
Box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits in a biscuit mixer.
A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits in a biscuit mixer.
A box of bisks, a box of missed biscuits in a biscuit mixer. a box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits, and a big skip mixer.
So this one is super hard for me, and mind you, I've been practicing it, but it's good to know that I'm not alone.
So tread with me. First we'll go slowly and then we'll try to speed up.
By the way, this is what I do and what I always advise.
Do tongue twisters slowly. Our job as non-native speakers of English, when we use tongue twisters as a tool to improve our pronunciation, is to really focus on those sounds and transitions between sounds that give us trouble.
We have to hone them, focus on our clarity and train our tongue and face muscles.
It doesn't matter if you're saying a tongue twister super fast when you're mispronouncing words and sounds.
And even worse, teaching yourself those mispronunciations.
Over time, when you've mastered a particular tongue twister, you can start working on the speed with fast but clear transitions between sounds.
So let's try it. A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits, and a biscuit mixer.
A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits and a biscuit mixer.
A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits, and a biscuit mixer.
A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits, and a biscuit mixer.
A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits, and a biscuit mixer."
A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits, and a biscuit mixer.
A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits, and a biscuit mixer.
A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits, and a biscuit mixer.
He explains what makes the stunk twister so hard is because we keep swapping the order of ks and sk sounds.
This tongue twister is in general very good for practicing, but especially if you have a problem with those sounds or if you want to hone them.
A box of biscuits, a box of mix biscuits, and a biscuit mixer.
A box of biscuits, a box of misfixes. And a big biscuit. makes sense the next one is toy boat go ahead and try it first three times fast toy boat toy boat toy boat all right this one is your toy boat So let's try it.
Toy boat, toy boat, toy boat, toy boat, toy boat, toy boat.
And now faster. Toy mode, toy mode, toy mode, toy mode, toy mode, toy mode. toy boat toy boat toy boat toy boat this one's hard because of those two diphthong sounds oy and We have two vowel sounds, one flowing into the other, and the expert says that it's a coordination problem.
To make oi, you have to move your lips from a very rounded position To going on round, it's sort of flat and stretched, oi.
For o, they're doing the opposite of that, and they have very similar movement patterns.
So if you have a problem with those diphthongs and similar lip movement, this one's a great one to practice.
And mark that the word boat ends with a stop T. So we're not saying toy boat. toy boat, we're saying toy boat, toy boat, toy boat.
This was for the American accent, but in the video you'll also hear people with other accents such as Australian and British, doing these tongue twisters.
The next one is for people who hate the th sound and for those who confuse f With TH.
Let's take The Fast Thief Flash Fried Thick Fish.
Thief, flash, fried, thick fish. The best thief, flash, flash, fried, thick fish.
So let's try it. Let's go slowly. The fast thief flash fried thick fish.
The fast thief flash fried thick fish. The Fast Thief Flash Fried Thick Fish.
The Fast Thief Flash Fried Thick Fish. The Fast Thief Flash Fried Thick Fish.
The Fast Thief Flash Fried Thick Fish. The Fast Thief Flash Fried Thick Fish.
The fast-thee flash-fried thick fish. The fast-thee flash-fried thick fish.
Oh, and there's also L and R alternation, and pay attention to those vowel sounds.
A, E, air, eye, ear, air. Fast. Thief.
Flash. Fried. Thick. Fish. Thick. Fish. Not fish.
Fish. The next tongue twister is truly rural, purely plural.
Truly rural, purely plural. Truly rural, purely plural Truly rural, purely plural Truly rural, purely plural He says that this one's gonna be hard for anyone and I couldn't agree more.
Also, he says that this one's probably gonna be harder for Americans and he explains why in the video.
Basically, it's because Americans pronounce all their Rs.
And of course, it's hard because of this R and L alternation.
Truly rural, purely plural. Truly rural, purely plural.
Truly rural, purely plural. Truly rural, purely plural.
Truly rural, purely plural. Truly rural, purely plural.
Again, I've been practicing, mind you. Truly rural, purely plural.
This is the fast as I can go. So this one's challenging, but nonetheless, amazing for practicing.
And the last one. Pad kid poured curd pulled cod.
Hat kid poured curd pulled cod. Hat kid poured curd pulled cod.
Okay, let's do this. Pad, kid, poured, curd, pulled, cod.
Pad, kid, poured, curd, pulled, cod. Pad, kid, poured, curd, pulled, cod.
Pad, kid, poured, curd, pulled, cod. Pat kid poured curd pulled cod.
Pat kid poured curd pulled cod. Pat kid poured curd pulled cod.
All the vowel sounds are different. Eh, eh, or, er, uh, ah.
Pad, kid, poured, curred, pulled, cawed.
So pay attention to this. And p and k are aspirated.
K, p. Pat, kit, port, curd, pulled, cod.
Okay guys, that's it for now. Thank you for choosing our podcast.
Until the next one.