I am now 63 years old and have been learning English since I was 10. I have had many teachers and coaches, even went to an international language school in the south of England. But nobody taught me THAT, even though it's so easy. Great video.
Interesting! I'm from Sweden and when I lived in the USA I got the accent down so well nobody believed I wasn't native. I always explaned it was because I'm a singer and had figured out the "melody" of the it. I wasn't far off. 😅
Soooo true. Having basic knowledge of sol-fa is key. As a spanish, I needed to learn how to say "I' m sorry, I don' t speak swedish" and "hungarian". Make your sentence fit in a 4/4 beat and done✨. I sounded so native that, in spite of saying I do NOT, people kept on talking in swedish and hungarian. As soon as I said it with spanish prosody (yet perfect phonetics), they switched to english. Also, chinese tones are just nothing but musical notes😅
I used to think Swedish, Norwegian and Danish all sounded the same. But then I heard the difference. For an English speaker, Swedish is like a Co Cork accent. Norwegian is a Birmingham accent and Danish is a Cockney accent! Now you can tell them apart i
0:08 The first example reminded me of those AI voices. You can always tell they're 'off', but I'd never really known why. Thanks for finally giving me the reason.
The funniest thing about how machines learn, I think, is that even after they've long surpassed us in the aspects of a thing that are most difficult for us, they are still struggling with the parts we consider to be the basics.
I'm delighted that I could help! If you're interested in the grammar side of English, by the way, I have a sister TH-cam channel "English with Rupert" 🙂
@@molly1117 Most Romance languages, including French, are generally thought of as syllable timed. Germanic languages are generally thought of as stress timed. I say "generally thought of as" because there's debate in linguistics as to whether this is really a thing. In practice, there are circumstances where "syllable timed" language speakers use stress timing, and vice versa.
@@speakenglishwithrupert I actually didn't quite understand. I'm portuguese. Portuguese from Portugal is considered to be stressed timed, while Portuguese from Brasil is considered to be syllable timed. So I think acentuation dependes on the accent of the place from where people come from, and no the language itself. EDIT: nevermind, I noticed on the video description you are talking about Native English.
I remember telling an American friend of mine that words following start, stop, and finish usually take "-ing" at the end. She was like, "WHAT? How did I not notice that?" 🤣
There's so many things we learn without realising about our native language! When I started teaching English 25 years ago I found that my students knew much more about my language then I did :)
@@9fa4108f eh... that's not really true though. Sure, gerunds follow those words frequently but it's as common for them to be followed by an article and a noun. Stop the car. Start the timer. Finish the dishes.
Nearly 40 years ago in Saigon, Dr. Hoang Thach Thiet introduced us to rhythm reading, a fresh and inspiring way to engage with English. Decades have passed, and though he is no longer teaching, the memory of his guidance endures. Alongside the lasting impressions of our devoted college teachers, his influence remains vivid, a timeless bloom in the garden of our past.
I also still remember some very few teachers, the ones that were especially charismatic and good dedicated professionals who had clever ways of passing the knowledge. Some of them really influenced me, I feel lucky to have been their student.
@evercuriousmichelle I have no idea 😅, once I lived in germany for some 5 years with little contact with italians, it was German all day long and after some 3 years when I heard someone speaking italian nearby, I started hearing the "music" that the italian language makes (I remember I loved it and was surprised how nice it was) . But that was the only time I could hear it. Later, I lived with more italians around and so I stopped hearing the " music". I think it is because I am native Italian, I just understand the words and the language is so familiar that I don't really hear it.
Woaw, as a foreigner using English as 3rd language, this tip is extremely helpful! I'm 100% certain that this channel will be another channel with 10M subscribers
This is very prominent in British accents. It ensures the listener understands the most important words even if they miss out on the less important words (grammar)
My experience of travelling in hippie bum areas of India and Asia is that the English people who have stayed there long term, speak the stress words only, like, I go shop. The monkeys in the recent planet of the apes films speak in a similar way. What is strange though is that the people don't even know they're doing it, their English has changed. I've also noticed it happens a bit in south London with some Iranian friends in tooting. It's less even but they're still cutting out words. For the travellers it's from trying to be understood and then getting stuck like that. Not sure what the saff London reasoning is
I teach Japanese people English. This is s very clean explanation of a fundamental concept. It occurred to me that in your first example that you dropped the pitch of your voice slightly on the stresses, but did not say them louder or longer as we would in conversation. When native speakers are reading out loud it sounds exactly like this. The problem with teaching proper English stress is that the learner must be at a level to speak in a flow of words, not constructing a sentence from pieces of their accessible vocabulary. By the time the learner has reached this stage, the habit of saying each syllable clearly has already been established and is very hard to correct. Many native speakers admire their English, saying “You speak better English than I do!” because it sounds like they are reading from a book. I think the most we can expect is to create awareness of how stress defines the flow speech so the learner recognizes the pattern of native speakers. Memorizing scanned poetry is all good practice. But it will forever be a challenge! Sorry this was long, but it’s an important topic and you stated it very clearly.
Is the matter of stress on specific subject taught? I’d say that is a more important understanding than the flow. *They* didn’t steal the money - someone else did? They *didn’t* steal the money - so emphasis you are certain definitively not? They didn’t *steal* the money - so they exploited a method not to be considered stealing, or it was borrowed? They didn’t steal *the* money - they stole something equally as valuable? They didn’t steal the *money* - they perhaps stole something else but not the money?
On “equal time between stresses words” in stress-timed languages, this is called “isochrony,” and an interesting feature is that we don’t really give each phrase exactly equal time, but just enough that it “feels” to us like equal time.
First of all: I had never heard this before, nobody ever told me about stress-timing or syllable-timing, although I have been learning English since I was 9. Then again, the stress-timed rhythm sounded totally natural to me. I would have never done it differently. I was curious and looked it up. Guess what: German is also stress-timed. So here you go, it‘s easy if your native language is Germanic. Thank you, I learned something new today!
Long ago as a young student I worked in retail clothing. A French visitor asked about a shirt - in French! - if there were other "couleur". She repeated the word over and over, slowly and patiently, but I and my colleagues had no idea what she was saying. So I dashed off and enlisted a co-worker who I knew spoke French. I was stunned to learn that I couldn't derive such a closely and obviously related word to our "colour". But what fooled me was that she placed strong emphasis on the second syllable whereas we (Australians) emphasise the first - and we don't encounter many French accents over here. Small differences in key-sound placement can make all the difference. (50 years later I'm still kicking myself btw?)
Years ago I met some Spanish students at University. Even though they spoke perfect English it was difficult to understand them, they seemed to speak like a machine gun going off. In turn, they said that English people sounded at if they were singing when they were talking. Now it has all been explained!
Singing when they were talking? That's better than hearing a series of telegrams - I once read that that's what English sounds like to Spanish speakers.
Wow this is a revelation to me! I'm a 54 year old native Brit and I never knew this about our language. It makes pefect sense to me but I'd just never realised! Thank you for the insight.
I was thinking too, about how the effects in iambic pentameter comes from going against the da-Dum rhythm. I.e. a heavy stress where light would be expected
Your videos are incredibly improving my English. Thank you for your service. But, I am amazed why people don't subscribe for this best educational channel. I see many trivial videos with huge subscription. You deserve 10 Million subscriptions.
I think it is because when it comes to learning English people like any thing other than mere grammer I find Speak English With Rupert a great find myself
"Your videos are improving my English INCREDIBLY. But, I am amazed THAT people don't subscribe TO this EXCELLENT educational channel. I see many trivial video CHANNELS with huge subscriptionS."
Wow, this is so helpful! I come from a syllable timed language and used to speak English like a little robot when I first learned it; teachers back then had no idea about teaching the rhythm of a language. I now live in Ireland where people speak very fast English peppered with a lot of colourful idioms directly translated from their native Irish language. My brother once observed that I speak much faster and at a higher pitch when I switch to English which is something I didn't know about.
Funny thing about the "The hills and the mountains were covered in flowers" example is that it's both stress-timed as well as syllable-timed since there are 2 non-stressed syllables between every stressed pair. Rappers use this all the time.
I’m a native speaker, and I learned something so simple that I’d never noticed before; I feel like I understand the world of languages better. Very well explained, clear and memorable.
I'm a foreign learner of English though my language of instruction has been English. This topic is very difficult to follow for non-native language learners of English. Thanks for explaining lucidly. ❤
This is an excellent explanation,Rupert. I've been teaching ESL for many years and learning the correct RHYTHM is key to being understood by native speakers. Will be sharing with my students! Thanks for a great resource!
I'm a 37yr old native Britain & watched this video because of a newly sparked interest in linguistics & i remember being taught this in various occasions in infant school (age 4-7) but it was introduced in rhythm games (often with solo clapping, percussion instruments or passing the clap) but also in around mid junior school (age 9-10) within poetry lessons. I always would have assumed this was taught to most British students and probably Americans too, in fact native English speakers in general really. And if ESOL teachers don't teach it they're really missing a trick to help their students sound more natural, as other viewers of this video are suddenly realising! Good luck learners😊
If you're interested in linguistics you may want to note you conflated 'Britain' and 'Briton.' The former refers to the country Great Britain and the latter refers to that nationality of a given person. In short, you meant that you are a Briton. Linguistics is pretty cool but complicated.
Being a native speaker who taught music in Alaska for 27 years, we often created speech pieces and played the rhythm of the words on drums or other instruments in my classroom. English is a gold mine of rhythms.
This is the most useful speaking lesson I've ever learned! I wonder why nobody ever told me that! (I guess it's because the native speakers find it so natural and the non-native teachers don't know it themselves lol.)
Finally, someone who understands how English verse works. Away with nonsense like “iambic pentameter” and “substitutions” and endless imposition of classical prosody on English stress-counted verse. You nailed it. Thank you.
this was NEVER been taught in school. but I took this English course for one or two years - can't remember and this was taught. when I try talking in stress timed, it felt more natural and easy 😮 rather than just rhythm felt very flat. perhaps I used these from time to time without notice. and I'm more comfortable and confident with my speech now
I cannot believe this! I learned more of English in this short time than in my entire life! And I am quite good in English. Omg. Brilliant lesson! Thank you.
I think this is something new for me after attending the boading school in England 3 decades ago!! As a non-native english speaking pupil, I went to a special centre (it was for both foreigners and students with dyslexia) in the school to take extra english lessons, it was a really good class but they never taught me this😮 I came back to my home country for good more than 20 years ago... and now, I am gradually losing my RP accent... Thanks to internet, TH-cam, and to your wonderful lessons.
This really sounds like one of my linguistics classes and I love it. Proof, once more, that linguistics helps with language learning! And giving the examples while clapping inspires me to sing/chant with them
Very interesting, my first language is Spanish, I also speak some Italian and English, but when I took my son to speech therapy long time ago… I remember asking the teacher if my son was going to pick up my accent… she asked me what accent? I said, I have an accent when I speak English; she said: you don’t, you have a different rhythm because your first language is Spanish! Now I understand what she meant!
I was an EFL teacher for many years and taught pronunciation much along these lines, but I wish I had known the terms 'stress-timed' and 'syllable-timed' back in the day. Great video. Thank you.
Brilliant, never knew this…thanks. I would like to hear the rhythm in the other way to talk too, the syllable-timed way…just to understand better the difference and find out how I normally speak.
Thank you. I think this explains why I find it so difficult to understand, for example, an Indian person who speaks perfect English and yet can more easily follow a European person who can only speak in broken English. Without key-sound cadence it takes enormous concentration to extract meaning even from a clearly spoken statement.
I think there is something in that. Indian is the most syllable-timed version of English that I am aware of. I am not suggesting they are wrong, by the way, but it does present an extra challenge when British speakers try to understand Indians and the other way round.
I hit the jackpot with this video! Thank you so much! I’ve been focusing on spoken English for 2 years now but this is the first time I heard the ‘same amount of time’ expression. This was key for me. Thanks from Budapest
This video makes so much sense, better than it was explained in college. I finally understood. And whats more this may be why I am told I sound foreign or have an accent (when I am not and I don't).
It is not about looking native, it about being able to understand, making your yourself understood and speaking without effort, in way that your speech flows smoothly - that's where these rules come in - handy. This is definity a good lesson which can make your life much, much easier.😂
Your explanation was wonderful. Although I am a German native speaker (also a stress-timed language), we learned about the importance of the emphasis of words in the English language back in the 90ies. I am quite sure that it is mentioned in many classes, but if the student doesn't get the message, he/she will forget it.
This is SO very important and so neglected! No one ever mentioned it in my training to become an Engish teacher but I figured it out over the years - perhaps because I'm a singer and use songs in my classes.Now I start every class with speaking/clapping games using phrases like 'English has a rhythm' A rhythm like a song' Don't speak like a robot speak English like a song' The students pick up on it, and after a few lessons we practice 'conducting' sentences with our hands to speak in a nice flowing rhythm. It SO helps them not only speak more smoothly but understand better.
Обожаю эту тему в английском. Интонация это то, что связывает тебя с конкретным языком. Считаю, что именно интонации меньше всего уделяется время в школе и даже в высшей. Не говоря о репетиторах
У нас меньше всего внимания уделяется произношению, какая интонация, о чём вы?.. 😂 Это только в вузах языковых проходят. А масса преподавателей не в силах различить bad - bed И вообще трудности с произношением æ и других трудных звуков.
As a certified monotonous syllable speaker (I'm French), I find that your "ran" was a tad long in the first example. ;) Amazing video, I wish school teachers had explained it to me this way!
Thanks for the good chuckle. I routinely poke fun at my French teachers when I use anglicisms with their (your) accent and rhythm. Je comprenais que notre cadence était très différente, mais ce mec l'a expliqué clairement.
Thank you for the video. I have noticed how important the rhythm of speech is after living in Canada for a few years. I even made up a word for this: speech "MEDIDICA."
Actually it is very nice! I speak fluent English and I intuitively caught this rule, but it is great that the speaker has pointed it out. Now I know how to switch. I have a mixture of other languages inside and often I didn't follow this rhythmic pattern. People caught me on the spot, saying: "where are you from?" At the same time, personally, I hate this type of stress timed rhythm and admire syllable timed like in other languages I speak. It sounds more beautiful and less showing off...and definitely less English. The English one is like an army officer speaking, as much as you make the voice softer the strong syllable pattern hits harshly. In other languages the school teachers use this stress timed rhythm only to convey a rebuke in school or to attract children's attention.
I think the stress timing is there to fill in other gaps the language has in its design. Like without agglutination, we would have to say more words to perhaps get across complex ideas because we wouldn't have extensive amounts of morphemes to modify existing words in a reasonable fashion (even typing this sentence & concept is exhausting, given how wordy it has to be). But with stress timing, we don't have to add any additional words to highlight what is important or the context in the larger sentence, the sound itself (stressed) is a marker.
Im brazilian, so portuguese is syllabic, and I see so many brazilians speak english as syllabic as well, but I d like to speak more similar britanic. Tks a lot I will practice like that you teach 😊
I've never heard of this before, but I did notice on my own that my native language (Greek) is syllable-timed, which is why it makes it very difficult for me to produce long vowels (since all are short and evenly timed in Greek). Thank you for this video!!
Thank you so much for making and sharing this video! This is such an excellent, almost hidden in plain sight resource for non native speakers. Very rarely so teachers online emphasize on sound; I’ve just shared with a friend who otherwise speaks the basics pretty well, yet always wonders why they don’t sound like a native speaker. Have just seen some other content on your channel and it is all quite unique in a pool of english learning channels. looking forward to future videos, and, Seasons greetings!
Excellent!!! I'm an English teacher and I find this technique extremely useful!! I'll get my students watch this video during a lesson. Thank you very much Sir.
I've gained profound knowledge today. I noticed that despite the correct grammar and vast vocabulary my speech isn't 'English'. I thought the problem was my poor pronunciation. But it's not, or rather not only this)). Do we speak here about British English?
After so many years studing English, I have been told about this by a musician as a curiosity when I was studing acting and the difference between italian poetry and english poetry and the difficulties in translation. Even if that musician demonstrates us that it is not always true that italian is a perfectly sillabical language as it is considered to be. Thank you for teaching so clearly and effectively 🙏🏻
Wow, this is an eye opening discovery of a decade for me at the very least! Been learning English since primary school, which is almost 30 years now, and nobody has told me this before! Been following this rhythm intuitively myself but now I know how to explain this to my kid and hubby too! Thanks so much ❤
Native English speakers sound like playing piano, whereas non-native speakers, such as Japanese and Chinese people, are used to having a similar way of mother tongue with equal time for each word and syllable.
I adore English and I want to speak it beautifully. I also adore the upper class conversations...I am infatuated with this😀. I can imitate it because I got a pretty good musical ear. English is like a melody especially when the upper class accent is involved🙂. Nice video and very useful, thank you for sharing🙂👍.
Don't try and fake that upper class accent. It's either real or it's not. It is grating to hear somebody put it on. Just speak clearly and don't pick up any accent that is *too* regional.
I sound foreign, I look foreign, and now I’m going around clapping my hands when talking to people! 😄👍
😂
😂
🤣
nothing wrong with happy clapping 😀
sounds good to me
I am now 63 years old and have been learning English since I was 10. I have had many teachers and coaches, even went to an international language school in the south of England. But nobody taught me THAT, even though it's so easy. Great video.
that's like the basic thing to know, how the accent works, the syllables etc
I'm so glad I can help you and I apologize that me and my fellow English teachers haven't shown you this before 👍🙂
You clearly had crap teachers. Every teacher I've worked with for decades teaches phonological features of English, just like this.
Das haben wir in der Schule nicht gelernt, weil es im Deutschen genau so ist.
That would be well said if you wrote "my fellow English teachers and I" ! Basic English grammar, dear man, with respects. @@speakenglishwithrupert
Interesting! I'm from Sweden and when I lived in the USA I got the accent down so well nobody believed I wasn't native. I always explaned it was because I'm a singer and had figured out the "melody" of the it. I wasn't far off. 😅
Thats true :) your talented.
Soooo true. Having basic knowledge of sol-fa is key. As a spanish, I needed to learn how to say "I' m sorry, I don' t speak swedish" and "hungarian". Make your sentence fit in a 4/4 beat and done✨. I sounded so native that, in spite of saying I do NOT, people kept on talking in swedish and hungarian. As soon as I said it with spanish prosody (yet perfect phonetics), they switched to english.
Also, chinese tones are just nothing but musical notes😅
Spanish accent can be spotted imediately...
I used to think Swedish, Norwegian and Danish all sounded the same. But then I heard the difference. For an English speaker, Swedish is like a Co Cork accent. Norwegian is a Birmingham accent and Danish is a Cockney accent! Now you can tell them apart i
And I'm from the USA living in Sweden.....wish me luck 😅
0:08 The first example reminded me of those AI voices. You can always tell they're 'off', but I'd never really known why. Thanks for finally giving me the reason.
Yes, absolutely! They haven't mastered everything that a human does when speaking, at least yet!
The funniest thing about how machines learn, I think, is that even after they've long surpassed us in the aspects of a thing that are most difficult for us, they are still struggling with the parts we consider to be the basics.
on the other hand, I think AI does really well with syllable-timed languages, for example Japanese (technically mora, but still very timed)
The chatgpt voice option REALLY sounds like a person though. It even takes pauses and says "um."
At last, after 24 years learning the language, I finally got to the right place for explanation. It was right under my nose the entire time.
I'm delighted that I could help! If you're interested in the grammar side of English, by the way, I have a sister TH-cam channel "English with Rupert" 🙂
Im an american trying to learn french, and i never noticed this rhythm in English. Now i’m wondering which languages use the syllable rhythm?
@@molly1117 Japanese is one of them.
@@molly1117 Most Romance languages, including French, are generally thought of as syllable timed. Germanic languages are generally thought of as stress timed. I say "generally thought of as" because there's debate in linguistics as to whether this is really a thing. In practice, there are circumstances where "syllable timed" language speakers use stress timing, and vice versa.
@@molly1117 French is one ;)
That's the clearest and most useful explanation about rhythm in English. Thank you.
Thank you! I appreciate the kind comment 🙂
@@speakenglishwithrupert I actually didn't quite understand. I'm portuguese. Portuguese from Portugal is considered to be stressed timed, while Portuguese from Brasil is considered to be syllable timed. So I think acentuation dependes on the accent of the place from where people come from, and no the language itself. EDIT: nevermind, I noticed on the video description you are talking about Native English.
I have been listening BBC for almost twenty years, today i got the skill.
That's great! Thanks for sharing 🙏
ALWAYS use TO with the verb LISTEN. = I have been listening TO the BBC
Me too... Finally, I got it...
You're liquid gold sharing this video/knowledge!! Thank you SO much !❤❤❤
Listening To The bbc. Not listening bbc
English has been my first language for all my life, this is the first time I have heard this explanation.
I remember telling an American friend of mine that words following start, stop, and finish usually take "-ing" at the end. She was like, "WHAT? How did I not notice that?" 🤣
There's so many things we learn without realising about our native language! When I started teaching English 25 years ago I found that my students knew much more about my language then I did :)
@@9fa4108f eh... that's not really true though. Sure, gerunds follow those words frequently but it's as common for them to be followed by an article and a noun. Stop the car. Start the timer. Finish the dishes.
@@speakenglishwithrupert "then I did" or "than I did" :D
O wow! I'm a non-native and probably this was the most useful video on spoken English that I've ever come across.
I'm glad it was that useful for you! I appreciate the comment 👍😁
yep, thx !!!
I aree@@SebR-FR
I agree
Nearly 40 years ago in Saigon, Dr. Hoang Thach Thiet introduced us to rhythm reading, a fresh and inspiring way to engage with English. Decades have passed, and though he is no longer teaching, the memory of his guidance endures. Alongside the lasting impressions of our devoted college teachers, his influence remains vivid, a timeless bloom in the garden of our past.
❤
Thanks for sharing this, sir
I also still remember some very few teachers, the ones that were especially charismatic and good dedicated professionals who had clever ways of passing the knowledge. Some of them really influenced me, I feel lucky to have been their student.
I am from England, and I teach English in Sweden. I have never heard (or even thought about) this. So interesting!
I'm Italian and have been studying English for years, reaching a fairly advanced level. This was enlightening. Thank you, sir.
I am italian too, I live in a very international environment and everyone loves my italian accent 😂
@@barbara6204As they should🤗😁
Is Italian more a syllable timed language?
@evercuriousmichelle I have no idea 😅, once I lived in germany for some 5 years with little contact with italians, it was German all day long and after some 3 years when I heard someone speaking italian nearby, I started hearing the "music" that the italian language makes (I remember I loved it and was surprised how nice it was) . But that was the only time I could hear it. Later, I lived with more italians around and so I stopped hearing the " music". I think it is because I am native Italian, I just understand the words and the language is so familiar that I don't really hear it.
Thanks so much for the lovely comment :)
Woaw, as a foreigner using English as 3rd language, this tip is extremely helpful! I'm 100% certain that this channel will be another channel with 10M subscribers
I'll send you an expensive gift if I ever make 10 million subscribers 😂 Thanks for the lovely comment 😁
@@speakenglishwithrupert it might happen sooner than you think😍
I have subscribed your channel.
This is very prominent in British accents. It ensures the listener understands the most important words even if they miss out on the less important words (grammar)
That's exactly why we do it, I think 😁
My experience of travelling in hippie bum areas of India and Asia is that the English people who have stayed there long term, speak the stress words only, like, I go shop. The monkeys in the recent planet of the apes films speak in a similar way. What is strange though is that the people don't even know they're doing it, their English has changed. I've also noticed it happens a bit in south London with some Iranian friends in tooting. It's less even but they're still cutting out words. For the travellers it's from trying to be understood and then getting stuck like that. Not sure what the saff London reasoning is
Definitely true in America too
When you clapped the last example, I wanted to sing "The hills are alive with the sound of music".
Brilliant! I can hear this in my head right now :)
😂
cannot be unheard now 😂
I teach Japanese people English. This is s very clean explanation of a fundamental concept. It occurred to me that in your first example that you dropped the pitch of your voice slightly on the stresses, but did not say them louder or longer as we would in conversation. When native speakers are reading out loud it sounds exactly like this. The problem with teaching proper English stress is that the learner must be at a level to speak in a flow of words, not constructing a sentence from pieces of their accessible vocabulary. By the time the learner has reached this stage, the habit of saying each syllable clearly has already been established and is very hard to correct. Many native speakers admire their English, saying “You speak better English than I do!” because it sounds like they are reading from a book. I think the most we can expect is to create awareness of how stress defines the flow speech so the learner recognizes the pattern of native speakers. Memorizing scanned poetry is all good practice. But it will forever be a challenge! Sorry this was long, but it’s an important topic and you stated it very clearly.
Thanks for your very insightful post 👍🙂
Is the matter of stress on specific subject taught? I’d say that is a more important understanding than the flow.
*They* didn’t steal the money - someone else did?
They *didn’t* steal the money - so emphasis you are certain definitively not?
They didn’t *steal* the money - so they exploited a method not to be considered stealing, or it was borrowed?
They didn’t steal *the* money - they stole something equally as valuable?
They didn’t steal the *money* - they perhaps stole something else but not the money?
@V01DIOREGreat post
@V01DIORE Yeah, that is already between grammar and style and context. What you put emphasis on. The subtext?
Very, very good explanation.
I must agree, this is the top of the cream, in a conversation. I was always wondering what I missed.
Thank you very much.
On “equal time between stresses words” in stress-timed languages, this is called “isochrony,” and an interesting feature is that we don’t really give each phrase exactly equal time, but just enough that it “feels” to us like equal time.
That's an excellent observation. We aim to keep a rhythm, but there are often small variations that lead to precisely what you've just mentioned.
First of all: I had never heard this before, nobody ever told me about stress-timing or syllable-timing, although I have been learning English since I was 9.
Then again, the stress-timed rhythm sounded totally natural to me. I would have never done it differently. I was curious and looked it up. Guess what: German is also stress-timed. So here you go, it‘s easy if your native language is Germanic.
Thank you, I learned something new today!
Long ago as a young student I worked in retail clothing. A French visitor asked about a shirt - in French! - if there were other "couleur". She repeated the word over and over, slowly and patiently, but I and my colleagues had no idea what she was saying. So I dashed off and enlisted a co-worker who I knew spoke French. I was stunned to learn that I couldn't derive such a closely and obviously related word to our "colour". But what fooled me was that she placed strong emphasis on the second syllable whereas we (Australians) emphasise the first - and we don't encounter many French accents over here. Small differences in key-sound placement can make all the difference. (50 years later I'm still kicking myself btw?)
Years ago I met some Spanish students at University. Even though they spoke perfect English it was difficult to understand them, they seemed to speak like a machine gun going off. In turn, they said that English people sounded at if they were singing when they were talking. Now it has all been explained!
Singing when they were talking? That's better than hearing a series of telegrams - I once read that that's what English sounds like to Spanish speakers.
I'm an ESL trainer. So glad to have found your channel.
I never had a concrete rule that I could pass on to my students.
I am so glad I could offer something useful to you - I hope it works well with your students!
This is the best English speaking technique I have so far.
Wow this is a revelation to me! I'm a 54 year old native Brit and I never knew this about our language. It makes pefect sense to me but I'd just never realised! Thank you for the insight.
It's amazing what we do without realising, isn't it! Thanks for the comment!
The beauty of Shakespeare & iambic pentameter relies upon stress patterns.
I was thinking too, about how the effects in iambic pentameter comes from going against the da-Dum rhythm. I.e. a heavy stress where light would be expected
Your videos are incredibly improving my English. Thank you for your service. But, I am amazed why people don't subscribe for this best educational channel. I see many trivial videos with huge subscription. You deserve 10 Million subscriptions.
I really appreciate your kind comment! 😁👍
I think it is because when it comes to learning English people like any thing other than mere grammer
I find Speak English With Rupert a great find myself
your right
Subscribed because of your comment
"Your videos are improving my English INCREDIBLY. But, I am amazed THAT people don't subscribe TO this EXCELLENT educational channel. I see many trivial video CHANNELS with huge subscriptionS."
Wow, this is so helpful! I come from a syllable timed language and used to speak English like a little robot when I first learned it; teachers back then had no idea about teaching the rhythm of a language. I now live in Ireland where people speak very fast English peppered with a lot of colourful idioms directly translated from their native Irish language. My brother once observed that I speak much faster and at a higher pitch when I switch to English which is something I didn't know about.
That's really interesting - thanks for sharing! I'm so glad you found my video helpful 😊
Funny thing about the "The hills and the mountains were covered in flowers" example is that it's both stress-timed as well as syllable-timed since there are 2 non-stressed syllables between every stressed pair. Rappers use this all the time.
I’m a native speaker, and I learned something so simple that I’d never noticed before; I feel like I understand the world of languages better. Very well explained, clear and memorable.
Thanks so much - I'm really glad I could expand your knowledge!
The best prononciation advice ever !!
Now that I heard it, it seems more obvious !!!
No english teacher ever told me this !!
Thank you very much !!
Thanks so much! I appreciate the comment! :)
One of the simplest, yet the best, advices toward speaking English fluently. Thanks for making this video!
I really appreciate the kind comment! Thanks!
I'm a foreign learner of English though my language of instruction has been English. This topic is very difficult to follow for non-native language learners of English. Thanks for explaining lucidly. ❤
Would you like to practice with me
I'm delighted that this has been helpful!
This is an excellent explanation,Rupert.
I've been teaching ESL for many years and learning the correct RHYTHM is key to being understood by native speakers. Will be sharing with my students! Thanks for a great resource!
Thanks so much! It's lovely to hear from a fellow teacher - and I think you are absolutely right (of course!)
I was an English teacher in Java, Indonesia. I was unaware of this way of speaking. Thank you very much for this video.
Thanks so much! I appreciate the comment! :)
I'd never considered this. Truly amazing.
Thanks Brian! I appreciate the comment 🙂
Excellent! I have been learning English for over 50 years, and it is the first time that somebody has given me this essential piece of information! 🙏🏻
I'm a 37yr old native Britain & watched this video because of a newly sparked interest in linguistics & i remember being taught this in various occasions in infant school (age 4-7) but it was introduced in rhythm games (often with solo clapping, percussion instruments or passing the clap) but also in around mid junior school (age 9-10) within poetry lessons.
I always would have assumed this was taught to most British students and probably Americans too, in fact native English speakers in general really.
And if ESOL teachers don't teach it they're really missing a trick to help their students sound more natural, as other viewers of this video are suddenly realising!
Good luck learners😊
Thanks so much Kayleigh! As you probably expect, I agree with everything you've said. If you are a fellow English teacher, good luck to you too :)
If you're interested in linguistics you may want to note you conflated 'Britain' and 'Briton.' The former refers to the country Great Britain and the latter refers to that nationality of a given person. In short, you meant that you are a Briton. Linguistics is pretty cool but complicated.
@@Loroths🧠🩳
Being a native speaker who taught music in Alaska for 27 years, we often created speech pieces and played the rhythm of the words on drums or other instruments in my classroom. English is a gold mine of rhythms.
This lesson makes nearly everything better, speaking AND listening.
Thanks so much! I appreciate the comment! :)
It reminds me of Professor Higgins teaching Eliza: 'The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.' The same rythm😂
LOL!!
This is the most useful speaking lesson I've ever learned! I wonder why nobody ever told me that!
(I guess it's because the native speakers find it so natural and the non-native teachers don't know it themselves lol.)
The claps 👏 made it so easy to understand. Thank you!
I'm glad that was helpful for you! It worked for me in the classroom, and I'm pleased that it's worked on TH-cam too!
Finally, someone who understands how English verse works. Away with nonsense like “iambic pentameter” and “substitutions” and endless imposition of classical prosody on English stress-counted verse. You nailed it. Thank you.
this was NEVER been taught in school. but I took this English course for one or two years - can't remember and this was taught. when I try talking in stress timed, it felt more natural and easy 😮 rather than just rhythm felt very flat. perhaps I used these from time to time without notice. and I'm more comfortable and confident with my speech now
Thanks so much! I appreciate the comment! :)
I am French and it's the first time this is explained to me. So I have just subscribed to your channel
I have lived in the US for more than 30 years. This is the first time I learn about this. Thank you so so much!
He is talking about British English. American English follows the first pattern.
@@elena79rus not true. American English is the same.
American English would be a bit different
Don’t try to learn English from Americans, they get a lot of things wrong despite it being the only language many of them speak.
@@hisham_hmIt really isn’t.
Many thanks to my University teachers, who explained it many years ago. And now I teach my studnts to do the same.
Thanks so much! I appreciate the comment! It's great to hear from a fellow teacher :)
Holy cow.. that's the coolest thing I've seen in a while. This reveals so much at once! Thank you so much!!!!
Oh my god...!!! Unbelievable. I became like a native speaker.! There was a time when i wished to be like this
That's great to hear 👍🙂
I cannot believe this! I learned more of English in this short time than in my entire life! And I am quite good in English. Omg. Brilliant lesson! Thank you.
I think this is something new for me after attending the boading school in England 3 decades ago!! As a non-native english speaking pupil, I went to a special centre (it was for both foreigners and students with dyslexia) in the school to take extra english lessons, it was a really good class but they never taught me this😮
I came back to my home country for good more than 20 years ago... and now, I am gradually losing my RP accent...
Thanks to internet, TH-cam, and to your wonderful lessons.
Thanks for the lovely comment! I appreciate it!
This really sounds like one of my linguistics classes and I love it. Proof, once more, that linguistics helps with language learning!
And giving the examples while clapping inspires me to sing/chant with them
Brilliant! I used to be an English teacher for foreigners, it would have been good to teach English speaking rhythm this way.
I'm always grateful when fellow teachers give me encouragement! Thanks so much for commenting 🙂
I was reading Ulysses in a syllable timed way and everything went over my head.
But, with these stress timed. I'm killing it. I'm clear about the book
That's fascinating! Thanks for sharing!
This is why you count stresses inEnglish verse and syllables in French, Spanish or Italian verse.
Exactly - you've nailed it! Thanks for commenting :)
Very interesting, my first language is Spanish, I also speak some Italian and English, but when I took my son to speech therapy long time ago… I remember asking the teacher if my son was going to pick up my accent… she asked me what accent? I said, I have an accent when I speak English; she said: you don’t, you have a different rhythm because your first language is Spanish! Now I understand what she meant!
I was an EFL teacher for many years and taught pronunciation much along these lines, but I wish I had known the terms 'stress-timed' and 'syllable-timed' back in the day. Great video. Thank you.
Thanks so much!
Brilliant, never knew this…thanks. I would like to hear the rhythm in the other way to talk too, the syllable-timed way…just to understand better the difference and find out how I normally speak.
Spanish is a good example of a syllable-timed language
@ I know but that was not my point. I wanted to hear the hands clapping 🙂
I have wondered about this for *years!* I can hear that there is a difference, but I have never been able to articulate it! *Thank you!*
Thanks so much! I appreciate the comment! :)
Thank you. I think this explains why I find it so difficult to understand, for example, an Indian person who speaks perfect English and yet can more easily follow a European person who can only speak in broken English. Without key-sound cadence it takes enormous concentration to extract meaning even from a clearly spoken statement.
I think there is something in that. Indian is the most syllable-timed version of English that I am aware of. I am not suggesting they are wrong, by the way, but it does present an extra challenge when British speakers try to understand Indians and the other way round.
I hit the jackpot with this video! Thank you so much! I’ve been focusing on spoken English for 2 years now but this is the first time I heard the ‘same amount of time’ expression. This was key for me. Thanks from Budapest
Thanks so much! I appreciate the comment! :)
Omg, what a brilliant observation/discovery! I mouth dropped and subscribed right after!
I'm so glad this was useful for you!! Welcome to the channel :)
@@speakenglishwithrupert, phonetics;)))
This video makes so much sense, better than it was explained in college. I finally understood. And whats more this may be why I am told I sound foreign or have an accent (when I am not and I don't).
It is not about looking native, it about being able to understand, making your yourself understood and speaking without effort, in way that your speech flows smoothly - that's where these rules come in - handy.
This is definity a good lesson which can make your life much, much easier.😂
That's a good way of explaining it. Thank you!
Your explanation was wonderful. Although I am a German native speaker (also a stress-timed language), we learned about the importance of the emphasis of words in the English language back in the 90ies. I am quite sure that it is mentioned in many classes, but if the student doesn't get the message, he/she will forget it.
Danke für diese echt hilfreiche Lektion! Das hört man nirgendwo.
Thanks for the kind comment 🙂
As A English speaker I had no idea I was doing this lol great video . The Rain in Spain is mainly On The Plain
I think this is amazing..with this stress sound rhythm
Thanks so much! I appreciate the comment! :)
This is SO very important and so neglected! No one ever mentioned it in my training to become an Engish teacher but I figured it out over the years - perhaps because I'm a singer and use songs in my classes.Now I start every class with speaking/clapping games using phrases like 'English has a rhythm' A rhythm like a song' Don't speak like a robot speak English like a song' The students pick up on it, and after a few lessons we practice 'conducting' sentences with our hands to speak in a nice flowing rhythm. It SO helps them not only speak more smoothly but understand better.
Обожаю эту тему в английском. Интонация это то, что связывает тебя с конкретным языком. Считаю, что именно интонации меньше всего уделяется время в школе и даже в высшей. Не говоря о репетиторах
Thanks! I appreciate the comment! 😀
У нас меньше всего внимания уделяется произношению, какая интонация, о чём вы?.. 😂
Это только в вузах языковых проходят. А масса преподавателей не в силах различить bad - bed
И вообще трудности с произношением æ и других трудных звуков.
This was extremely helpful. I’ve been studying Japanese for 35 years and it basically explains why Japanese has pitch accent
Ok, got it: from now on I'm gonna clap my hands in time while speaking English with a foreigner! 😅
Thanks mate!
Greets from Italy👋😁
Brilliant! I hope that goes well 😁
As a Russian I can just clap. I will not get how many words and where I need to eat up.
😂
Hahaha, hilarious.😂
Wow, so many years spent in constant touch and use of English - but I never ever noticed such a thing! And I never knew it either.
Thank you!
As a certified monotonous syllable speaker (I'm French), I find that your "ran" was a tad long in the first example. ;)
Amazing video, I wish school teachers had explained it to me this way!
Thanks so much! I appreciate the comment! :)
Thanks for the good chuckle. I routinely poke fun at my French teachers when I use anglicisms with their (your) accent and rhythm. Je comprenais que notre cadence était très différente, mais ce mec l'a expliqué clairement.
Thank you for the video. I have noticed how important the rhythm of speech is after living in Canada for a few years. I even made up a word for this: speech "MEDIDICA."
Outstanding from all other multiple English learning videos! Thanks a lot!
It's wonderful to hear you enjoyed the video 👍🙂
The comments are as enlightening as your video. Kudos on garnering an intellectually interactive class.
Thanks so much! Yes, some of the comments are really good :)
@speakenglishwithrupert 😊
More success to you!
Actually it is very nice! I speak fluent English and I intuitively caught this rule, but it is great that the speaker has pointed it out. Now I know how to switch. I have a mixture of other languages inside and often I didn't follow this rhythmic pattern. People caught me on the spot, saying: "where are you from?"
At the same time, personally, I hate this type of stress timed rhythm and admire syllable timed like in other languages I speak. It sounds more beautiful and less showing off...and definitely less English. The English one is like an army officer speaking, as much as you make the voice softer the strong syllable pattern hits harshly. In other languages the school teachers use this stress timed rhythm only to convey a rebuke in school or to attract children's attention.
I think the stress timing is there to fill in other gaps the language has in its design. Like without agglutination, we would have to say more words to perhaps get across complex ideas because we wouldn't have extensive amounts of morphemes to modify existing words in a reasonable fashion (even typing this sentence & concept is exhausting, given how wordy it has to be). But with stress timing, we don't have to add any additional words to highlight what is important or the context in the larger sentence, the sound itself (stressed) is a marker.
That's a really interesting observation - thanks for sharing!
That's very, very good and I just realized, that nearly every language does it!
Thanks so much! I appreciate the comment! :)
What a golden tip,no one had mentioned before
I'm glad my video has helped! Thanks for commenting 🙂
I never came across this topic on this subject, well done professor this should be the basics for every non-native english beginner.
Important thing I didn’t notice. Thank you
I'm glad this has helped 😁
Awesome! Why no one has said this before! I’ve been studying English as a foreign language for 6 years and didn’t know it. Thank you so much!
Thanks so much! I appreciate the comment! :)
Im brazilian, so portuguese is syllabic, and I see so many brazilians speak english as syllabic as well, but I d like to speak more similar britanic. Tks a lot I will practice like that you teach 😊
This video is for people like those you describe. Thanks for commenting!
That is interesting. I always thought britanic english pronunciation more proper to us, brazilians
Portuguese is mainly a stress-timed language.
@@bgaruvamaybe they mean Brazilian Portuguese?
Perhaps you should listen to European Portuguese which, so I've heard, is stress-timed like English
Thank you, I am Indian, and my language has different rhythms , so this is helpful for me to know more about English
I'm so glad you liked the video! Thanks for commenting 🙂
Я счастлива, что попала на ваш канал.Спасибо.❤
I don't know what this means but thank you for what I think is a kind comment!!
I've never heard of this before, but I did notice on my own that my native language (Greek) is syllable-timed, which is why it makes it very difficult for me to produce long vowels (since all are short and evenly timed in Greek). Thank you for this video!!
Thank you so much for making and sharing this video!
This is such an excellent, almost hidden in plain sight resource for non native speakers. Very rarely so teachers online emphasize on sound;
I’ve just shared with a friend who otherwise speaks the basics pretty well, yet always wonders why they don’t sound like a native speaker.
Have just seen some other content on your channel and it is all quite unique in a pool of english learning channels. looking forward to future videos, and,
Seasons greetings!
I'm so pleased you enjoyed this video, and I hope you will also enjoy my future videos! Lovely to hear from you 👍🙏😁
The greatest lesson that emphasizes this major fact!
Thanks so much! I appreciate the comment! :)
Stunning! I have never thought about this! Amazing! Thank you so much, Rupert!
I'm delighted to hear this was useful for you! Thanks for commenting 🙂
Excellent!!! I'm an English teacher and I find this technique extremely useful!! I'll get my students watch this video during a lesson. Thank you very much Sir.
Thanks so much for commenting! Let me know if this works for you in the classroom :)
I've gained profound knowledge today. I noticed that despite the correct grammar and vast vocabulary my speech isn't 'English'. I thought the problem was my poor pronunciation. But it's not, or rather not only this)). Do we speak here about British English?
Hi! Yes, I speak British English. I also have a grammar channel English with Rupert 😁
After so many years studing English, I have been told about this by a musician as a curiosity when I was studing acting and the difference between italian poetry and english poetry and the difficulties in translation.
Even if that musician demonstrates us that it is not always true that italian is a perfectly sillabical language as it is considered to be.
Thank you for teaching so clearly and effectively 🙏🏻
Thanks so much! I appreciate the comment! :)
Great teacher!
You are very kind! Thanks for commenting 🙂
Now, this is really something I’ve never thought of. This is very refreshingly new.
Literally superbbbb! And I'm amazed that this platform hasn't 2k members yet! Support him🎉
Thanks for the lovely comment! 🙂
Wow, this is an eye opening discovery of a decade for me at the very least! Been learning English since primary school, which is almost 30 years now, and nobody has told me this before! Been following this rhythm intuitively myself but now I know how to explain this to my kid and hubby too! Thanks so much ❤
I'm glad this was helpful. Thanks for commenting Olga!
"Keep making videos, sir. I'm truly sure that soon you'll cross 1 lakh subscribers. There's no one like you on the whole of TH-cam 😊
You are very kind! I'd be delighted if I can help more people with their English 😁
It's BRILLIANT!
Thank you!
Thanks for the lovely comment 😁
Native English speakers sound like playing piano, whereas non-native speakers, such as Japanese and Chinese people, are used to having a similar way of mother tongue with equal time for each word and syllable.
Very true! I hope you enjoyed the video!
I appreciate every bit of your video. So loaded and educative. I'm expecting more of this to come. Thanks.
I adore English and I want to speak it beautifully. I also adore the upper class conversations...I am infatuated with this😀. I can imitate it because I got a pretty good musical ear. English is like a melody especially when the upper class accent is involved🙂. Nice video and very useful, thank you for sharing🙂👍.
Don't try and fake that upper class accent. It's either real or it's not. It is grating to hear somebody put it on. Just speak clearly and don't pick up any accent that is *too* regional.
@SusanaXpeace2u Wow😯... that's interesting... I appreciate to know that, amazing! Thank you for the advice🙂.
Thanks for the comment, and I think Susana has given you good advice, too :)
This information is also incredibly helpful when reading.
Yes! It can help you imagine how what you read might sound. A great comment 😁