Contrast: Sound More Natural and Interesting in American English 🎶

[@Surendrabilaspur]

I dont know why only thousands of subscribers are here there should be millions...you are very clear on your topics...thumbs up..

[@Englishwithkim]

Thank so much for the kind words. This is one of my favorite videos, so I'm glad you found it clear and helpful.

[@greekwithjo960]

Thank you so much, Kim. The one video is better than the other. I'm grateful for coming across your Channel.

[@Englishwithkim]

Thanks for the kind words! This is one of my favorite videos, and I'm glad you found it helpful!

[@rogerclaro9593]

This English video is an eye opener! Thank you Teacher Kim. God bless you and your family. 🇵🇭

[@Englishwithkim]

This is one of my favorite videos, so I'm glad you found it helpful! Take care!

[@lumyogi7159]

Amazing. I'm glad I found you

[@Englishwithkim]

That's so nice to hear! Welcome to my channel!

[@eufalkao]

You are just amazing! Thank you so much for this lesson, Kim!

[@Englishwithkim]

Awww, that's so kind! I'm glad this helped you!

[@Vincentleigh006]

@@Englishwithkim yes it does! Thanks from this side of the Atlantic too

[@mehdifaraji3313]

So thanks pretty much coach Kim

[@ka_vinka]

God Bless You! Your channel really help me to improve my speaking skill. Thank you so much💕

[@Englishwithkim]

I'm happy to hear that my channel has been helping you! Thank you for watching!

[@kashifalikhan5124]

Nice video Maam

[@Monolith05]

This is a really useful English lesson! It is not just going to classes and learn grammar (wich is important too) but teachers rarely give some other ways to improve your language skills, to fix your accent and sound more natural. I am learning English and having troubles to pronounce some vowels when they are attached to another consonant. I have to practice how to move my lips properly and do that lengthen that you were talking. Very nice work!

[@Englishwithkim]

I completely agree - there are many limitations to what you can teach and learn in the traditional classroom. That's why I focus on what's truly important for communication here, and how you use your voice is a big part of that! If you really lengthen the vowel sound and exaggerate the mouth movement, it will probably become a bit easier to pronounce those consonants. I find it best to exaggerate a LOT when practicing because you'll be more relaxed in normal speech.

[@hossamelsayed3640]

that is very useful >thanks a lot

[@Martonpjr]

I like this professor

[@junshengmao9957]

Have you ever heard of Aj hoge effortless English courses? I'm learning pronunciation addressing areas like intonation,fluency, rhythm, speed, etc. I have enough of sounding monotone. When we speak to one another on a daily basis, how to know when/which word to emphasise during a conversation? When we are in a hurry to express our thoughts during a conversation, we might sound more monotone unconsciously.

[@Englishwithkim]

I have heard of AJ Hoge, but I am not familiar with his courses or his approach. I'm glad to hear that you're focusing on these aspects of speech. You're right - when you're speaking quickly, you might not be paying as much attention to the contrast in your speech. With practice, you'll start using contrast more naturally, without having to think about it. But at the beginning, it does take conscious attention. This video will help you understand how we know which word to emphasize and how to use your pitch to communicate your meaning clearly: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g6rVn5-fjZ6Gd7c This video on sentence stress explains the difference between content and function words, and why we emphasize the words that matter more: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e3XHnqSilteFh6M

[@tajalkhatim428]

Thank you Kim for this lesson

[@Englishwithkim]

You're welcome - this is one of my favorites!

[@sokyun4156]

I've just found your channel and hit the subscribe button in a second. Can I say I love you? And Big Thank You. I wish you uploaded lessons more often though. Again, thanks for the great lessons.

[@sokyun4156]

One more thing. Why don't you add some ads here and there. I promise I won't skip em and I believe neither would do all your subscribers!

[@Englishwithkim]

Welcome to the channel! I'm happy to hear my videos are helping you. I prefer to focus on quality over quantity of videos and it takes time to plan, record, and edit them. There are over 100 videos on my KZbin channel and website so be sure to check those out! If you want weekly lessons, I encourage you to join my email community at soundmorenatural.com. (And yes, there are are ads on the channel but KZbin ultimately chooses how often to show them.)

[@sokyun4156]

@@Englishwithkim I absolutely agree with you on quality over quantity approach. I appreciate your quick reply. Thank you!

[@luisalbertomendez1868]

Hello Kim! Thank you for keep making this amazing videos! I've decided to start to move more my mouth... It's completely weird for me, but I gonna try it. 😁

[@Englishwithkim]

It's a great idea to experiment and see how you like the results!

[@heltonroyzamorasambola7843]

I am a non-native speaker ; greetings from Managua Nicaragua

[@Englishwithkim]

Nice to meet you!

[@heltonroyzamorasambola7843]

@@Englishwithkim wooooow excellent !

[@mcchirisa]

Hi Kim! I have a question about the intonations we use on each syllable, can you tell me if this is correct?. At minute 3:28 "Her:(baseline) birth:(one step) day:(baseline) is on:(baseline) Sun:(two steps) day:(we glide to one below)" .

[@Englishwithkim]

Yes, this looks right to me! The final tip in this video should also help: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4HLg4qHp7ComMU

[@mcchirisa]

@@Englishwithkim Thank you very much!

[@mehdifaraji3313]

Hi there how's it going ? Thanks so much i appreciate what you do here really am amazed with your all lessons , it gives me a great boost and huge motivation to seem more native and more musical in my speechs

[@Englishwithkim]

I'm happy to hear that my videos keep you motivated to sound more expressive and musical when you speak! It is definitely worth the effort.

[@mehdifaraji3313]

@@Englishwithkim I mean what i said you the best / keep going and God bless you

[@boohyaah9339]

Hi Kim! What do you think of the shadowing technique? Can you make a video on how this technique can help you improve the speaking/pronunciation skills in english. I usually do this a lot and sometimes I practice using your videos. Do you think this can help with intonation? Overall I just wanna know your thoughts on how this technique can help.

[@Englishwithkim]

Hi there! Thanks for asking for my suggestions on shadowing. I have been receiving a lot of interesting questions on shadowing and plan to make a video on it soon. I would love to hear what you do to practice accent through shadowing to help me make a more helpful video. How do you practice shadowing? What do you choose to listen to? What do you focus on when shadowing? What are you not sure you're doing right when shadowing? Basically, any information you can give me on what you are doing while shadowing will help me make the most complete video possible. Anyone reading this is welcome to share too! You can leave a comment here or email me through my website: englishwithkim.com/contact

[@boohyaah9339]

@@Englishwithkim Hi Kim! Thank You so much for your answer. I usally practice shadowing with native american speakers (videos or audios) with a clear standard american accent, because my goal is to have an accent like that. So i train with your videos and with other american teachers here on youtube. Normally i try to pick videos that have subtitles but i try to focus on listening to the right sounds, pronunciation and intonation instead of reading the subtitles, and then, 1 or 2 seconds after listen i try to mimic (without stopping the video or audio). I think the subtitles can be useful too, but not if you focus just on reading and not listening to speaker, because you can't read the intonation patterns and how to pronounce a certain word, but if you listen mainly and use the subtitles as a support I think it is super useful. Other thing that I do sometimes, is record myself and compare with it the original audio. A lot of times I use the speed tool on youtube, not because i don't understand, but because i can't always pronounce everything right on the normal speed so I put on 0,75x speed. The reason why I can't pronounce everything right is because english is not my first language (obviously) so I don't have all the sounds of english in my native language, so some are hard to me to say. At the moment I have a lot of time to practice my english speaking skills, so I really wanna see great improvement by the end of the summer on my accent. I just wanna know if by shadowing, my mouth muscles will start to get used to the english sounds and pronunciation (after all speaking is a physical activity) and if it will help my accent get better. I wanna know if by doing this technique, I will start producing the hard sounds that I dont have on my native language correctly (th sound for exemple).

[@Englishwithkim]

Thank you for your super detailed response! This gives me a better understanding of what you are doing on your own (sounds great, by the way) so I can give more guidance. I'll be recording more videos soon and this is at the top of my list! My best suggestion in the meantime is to review my video on how to use your listening skills to improve your accent and see if you're listening for all those aspects of the American accent.

[@boohyaah9339]

@@Englishwithkim Thank You Kim. I can't wait for the video to come out. Meanwhile i'll watch the video that you recommend and i'll continue doing what I explained in my previous response. I hope this technique improve my accent and that I'm not just losing my time doing the wrong technique. btw I have another question, did you were an actress? (I'm asking because a lot of your content is relevant for actors and because I'm interested in acting)

[@Englishwithkim]

You've brought up another good point that I also hope to talk about in another video. That's whether or not there is a wrong way to work on your accent. My rule of thumb (in other words, guideline) is that if you feel like it is helping you make progress, then it's working. If other people can hear the results, that's even better. At some point, it won't work as well, or be as effective, or you'll even get bored, and you'll need to try another approach. The challenge I notice with shadowing is that you really have to train your ear too, and you may not notice features of speech if you're not listening specifically for them (or if you don't know they exist, or if you're listening from the perspective of your native language). I'll discuss this more when I make the video on the topic. As for being an actress, no, except for some plays as a kid. That said, teaching English involves a lot of performing. Most of the advice about using your voice is relevant to communicating more effectively no matter whether you're a native speaker or not. "Accent" is just what most people think they want to work on, when the truth is, they really want to speak clearly and be understood. 😉

[@michaelalves-englishlearne5392]

We're missing you. Please come back!

[@Englishwithkim]

I haven't gone anywhere! If you miss my videos, be sure to check out some of the playlists with older videos. There're probably a few you've missed over the years!

[@michaelalves-englishlearne5392]

@@Englishwithkim You haven't uploaded new videos since last month. But that's okay. I like your videos s lot.

[@asmaaal-roumi7865]

Gald you're back Kim ♥♥♥

[@Englishwithkim]

I haven't gone anywhere - it just seems like people haven't been notified of my most recent videos. You might want to see if you missed anything. 😉

[@marydc6147]

I need to practice in my pronunciation . 😔 I'll re-watch your videos again and do what you said. I hope get better soon.🙏 I tired of how terrible I sound.😭

[@Englishwithkim]

You can do it! Use how you feel now to motivate you to try something new and see what results you get.

[@mizukarpa]

Huge thanks to you Kim! This was what I really needed now. After spending decent time learning pronunciation and accent I still didn't sound close to native speakers. I have some questions, do you have a video about breathing control? And do you connect all words if a sentence has full of words starting with vowel and finishing with consonant? Thank you in advance!

[@Englishwithkim]

I realized this was a missing link for a lot of non-native speakers so I wanted to make it explicitly clear in this video! I mention breathing in my video on how to use your voice and breath: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKKndZWMhs5neZY That said, I plan to make another video on breathing soon. What are your questions about breath and breath control? That will help me make a video on this topic that truly answers your questions. We often connect words that are within the same thought group because we reduce the words that don't matter and rush through them. I would need an example to be able to answer this better.

[@mizukarpa]

@@Englishwithkim Thank you for your reply Kim! For example in a sentence like "The vet laid her on her right side.", do you say it "laidərənər right side."? H get reduced and o become ə, right? But I thought it's a bit difficult to catch the meaning. About breathing, I couldn't come with a example right now, but I'll post later. Thank you for the link as well, I'll check it out. ;)

[@Englishwithkim]

That example would probably be split into two thought groups: The vet laid her / on her left side. So you would reduce "her" and link it to the verb, pause slightly, and then connect "on" and "her" before stressing "left." Linking generally happens within thought groups.

[@marydc6147]

That one of my problems. Breath between thought groups. My breathe normally is short (even in my native language) and when I try to say a sentence or thought group I can't say it complete because I need to talk a breath. 😔

[@Englishwithkim]

Have you seen my recent video on breath control? Hope it helps: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3y4iJaoi6ylkKc

[@juliofialho7370]

Hiii I'm from Brazil 🇧🇷 Do you remember me? I'm continues to ran out of your advertising from your channel, it is that sucks, this is blame from youtube, but not to toot my own horn even with this problem i’ve been aways making comments your videos hahaha lol apologize I'm pranking would you mind give a quote about my country??????

[@Englishwithkim]

Do you mean that KZbin is not notifying you of my videos? You're definitely not the only one. Thanks for seeking out my videos and commenting anyway!

[@juliofialho7370]

English with Kim I think your videos so much useful tanks for work in order to help us

[@juliofialho7370]

Do you happen to make constantly videos???