※ 引述《hahastarr (hahastarr)》之铭言： : So what you started watching series to practice Eng speaking at the age of 25? : ----There's nothing to be ashamed of! (Sigh) I have tons of friends nearby who can speak Eng much better than I do. I feel so bad about my English ability. However, I also know that if I stopped complaining it earlier and started practicing it more, the situation might be better. XD : However, 20+ times trying of speaking particular sentence is not quite enough : for someone to master a language. I'm not saying that the number of your : attempts is not sufficient but the way you practice speaking could be more : diverse. To learn to speak a language, you need to understand the meaning of : the words. Then you listen to people speaking the words and imitate : their manners and articulations. Maybe you just 'hear' the : words but do not really pay attention to the way they're spoken. The : intonation and stress are important as well. Keep listening to the passage : that you are not familiar with, try to pronounce each word clearly doesn't ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ : matter how slow you speak. See how these words differ in terms of ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ : pronunciation when people speak them in different situations. Find the rules, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Oh my gosh! You have no idea how helpful this suggestion is! Thank you so much! And the god-damn linking sound! : note them down if you want. For instance, the sentence you use as example : "I was just saying to my friend that you are the most beautiful woman I've : ever seen in my life." There might be some omissions of sounds when the : person say the actual sentenc,such as the /t/ in just, that and most. I don't ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Exactly! Man, you are awsome! : speak English the American way but I know there's a pattern of the language. : It's not something you could learn from someone. You have to learn it yourself. : It's like a switch, you'll find yours someday and everything would be sweet. : Your sharing reminds me of a piece of memory of mine. When I was in primary : school, I really like the Disney song "Colours of the wind". But no matter : how many times I tried I couldn't match up the speed the singer sang. I was : frustrated so I kinda gave up trying and just listened to the song over and : over and over again. And then one day when I was humming in the shower (like : most people do XD) I suddenly realised oh my gosh I was literally singing the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ : song!! Because I knew too well of not only the melody of the song but also ^^^^^^^^ I realize the situation what you are describing, but I wonder if it could happen on me. You mean you didn't have an Eng environment at that time, and you succeeded emmerse yourself in this feeling of launguage? If the answer is yes, this is a very encouraging story! If you were abroad at that time, um... I would be less confident of doing the same thing as you did, but I'll take a shot anyway. : the beats! Later in my life I learn that English is a 'stress-timed language' ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ : ; Chinese, on the other hand, is a 'syllable-timed language'. In short, the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This insight is so cool! You just told something I didn't know how to express! And I found there is another very big difference between these two languages. We pronounce Eng by the stress but Chi by the phonetic notation. For example, the "Wo3", which means "I" in Chinese, is always pronounced by the third tone in any context. (We don't discuss some exceptions here.) So a foreniger learning Chinese could always pronounce every character right when he see it. However, a word in English could pronounce higher or lower depending on the words in front of it and after it. It depends on where you put the sress in a sentence. And you know where you should put a stress in a sentence by getting used of listening and speaking this language. That's the main reason why it's so difficult for non-native Eng speaker to pronournce well, because there isn't any instructions, as oppose in Chinese we have phonetic notation, in an Eng sentence telling us how to speak out the right intonation. When it requires you to get familiar with a lang first and then you can speak it in the right tone, it's getting more difficult to get familiar with it. Yep, it's just another very average findout I knew recently. : longer the passage, the more time we use to speak them. But in English, they : only stress the important words and tend to squeeze other not so important : words in bettween. That's why we find them speaking fast. I can't agree with you more. : Anyway, I'm not sure if this is helpful to you. If not, just take it as : an experience sharing. :) : Oh by the way, I'm a big fan of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. myself. *high five* *high five* I am mad about comedies. I think "The Big Bang Theory" is the second funniest comedy series I've ever seen. (The first one is of course Friends.) I also recommend it to you. : NCIS is pretty good too. : Have fun practicing! : regards. Thanks! By the way, I also had a big problem speaking this following sentence: "So I'll be just as pathetic as the rest of you." ^^^^^^^^^^^ The main speaking problem is happend on the words I highlighted. I can speak this sentence slowly with a short pause after "pathetic." (You know, we usu pause a little bit after we speak some word end with the sound /k/.) However, Rachel said this sentence very fluently and fast without any pause in the middle. After I constantly listened to it, I doubt that maybe she pronounce the word "pathetic as" as "pa-the-ti-kas". ^^^ I am very very unfamiliar with this "kas" sound. And every time I tried to speak it I felt I am so awkward. Would you pls tell me in your experience is this sentence should be speaked with a linking sound of "patheti-kas"? If you say so, I would be more sure about it. (She speaked it so fast that I couldn't be sure if I heard it right... so sad...) Thank you for your help! --

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