The video explores the nuances of fast and connected English speech, using scenes from the renowned movie "The Pursuit of Happiness," featuring Will Smith. Key areas include the comprehension of rapid native speech, the usage of common phrases such as "I don't know" and "probably," and the importance of adjusting pronunciation to sound more natural in English conversations. The instructor breaks down the speech patterns and connections used by native speakers, focusing on expression fluidity.

The video is a fascinating insight into how native speakers often drop sounds or abbreviate words, making the dialogue sound more organic and spontaneous. An example is how "kind of" becomes "kinda," and the word "probably" is often shortened to "probly." The discussion extends to elucidating emotional conversations, like how using "you can't do something" conveys emotional acuity in dialogues. Moreover, it highlights the motivational aspects of communication, as illustrated by the film's dialogues.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. acquaintance [əˈkwentəns] - (noun) - Familiarity with someone or something, achieved through direct encounters or by association. - Synonyms: (familiarity, knowledge, introduction)

Hey, I wanted to drop this off to you personally and make your acquaintance.

2. colloquial [kəˈloʊkwiəl] - (adjective) - Pertaining to informal, conversational speech or language. - Synonyms: (informal, conversational, everyday)

This makes me think too of a synonym we can use for basketball, which is shooting hoops because the hoop or the basket is a place where you try to make a goal. So shooting hoops is just a more colloquial way to talk about the sport.

3. emphasis [ˈɛmfəsɪs] - (noun) - Special importance, value, or prominence given to something. - Synonyms: (stress, importance, significance)

The syllable that has the emphasis there is the first one.

4. articulation [ɑrˌtɪkjəˈleɪʃən] - (noun) - The act of expressing something in words or the clarity of verbal expressions. - Synonyms: (expression, enunciation, utterance)

You'll excel at a lot of things, just not this.

5. pronunciation [prəˌnʌnsiˈeɪʃən] - (noun) - The manner in which a word is spoken, emphasizing the accurate sound and tone. - Synonyms: (enunciation, articulation, diction)

You're going to learn a lot of great vocabulary, but especially you are going to learn to understand fast speaking natives and even improve your pronunciation yourself

6. inspiring [ɪnˈspaɪrɪŋ] - (adjective) - Having the effect of inspiring someone, causing them to feel inspired and motivated. - Synonyms: (motivating, uplifting, encouraging)

So get ready for how Will Smith turns around the very negative message that he gave his son and turns it into something very inspiring.

7. prospective [prəˈspɛktɪv] - (adjective) - Expected or expecting to be the specified thing in the future; likely or potential. - Synonyms: (potential, expected, anticipated)

If you want something, go get it, period. I just immediately start to get.

8. profound [prəˈfaʊnd] - (adjective) - Having deep insight or understanding; being very great or intense. - Synonyms: (deep, intense, significant)

Definitely hits. Hits the heart.

9. nuance [ˈnjuːɑːns] - (noun) - A subtle aspect or quality, a slight difference in meanings or expressions. - Synonyms: (subtlety, distinction, variation)

The video explores the nuances of fast and connected English speech.

10. fluency [ˈfluːənsi] - (noun) - The ability to speak or write a language easily and accurately. - Synonyms: (eloquence, articulateness, proficiency)

It offers practical pronunciation tips to improve non-native speakers' fluency and semblance to native English speakers.

Learn English with WILL SMITH — The Pursuit of Happyness

He said you're smart. This is impossible. I can do it. No, you can't. No one can. Okay. Yeah, I don't know. You know, you'll probably be about as good as I was. That's kind of the way it works, you know, and I was below average. Yeah. So, whoa. So you'll probably ultimately rank somewhere around there, you know? So really, you'll excel at a lot of things, just not this. I don't want you out here shooting this ball around all day and night. All right? All right. Okay. All right. Says I'm going pro. What does that mean? If you go pro, Izzy? It's pretty literal, right? Pro is professional. So if you're going pro, you're becoming pro. Or in this case, he means that he will become a professional. A professional basketball player.

Okay. Yeah. I don't know. You know, now we have some really nice, connected speech here, right? This is a really common one you see all the time in English when we say I don't know. Or, you know, like he did here. So he pretty much drops the t sound there. So it becomes I don. I don. And it links to that n sound, the end from don't to the n sound in no. So it becomes, I don't know. I don't know. And I believe that, you know, he also reduces the U to just a ya. So it becomes, you know, you'll probably be about as good as I was. So, first of all, how does he say probably? Did you catch that? Yeah. Normally, natives will reduce probably to simply probably. And I think here he even reduced it further that he was like, probably. It's, like, very shortened. And it connects immediately with b. So probably be. Probably be about as good as I was. How does he say the remainder of that? So probably be about as good as I was. There's an american t, a flap t in about which connects with as good. About as good and there's another connection with good. As about as good as I was, you'll probably be about as good as I was. And this is a really nice sentence construction as well that he used there.

So about as good as I was, about as good as something else. When do we use that? So this is when something is at the same level. In this case, he's talking about basketball. So to be as good as somebody at basketball, you're at the same level. Level of skill. Because the word about here is approximately or close. Not exactly, but close. So as good as something is. Exactly. You're saying that it's the same, and about as good is very close to how good it is. You could use this even a negative, too, right? To say, like, that movie I saw was as bad as the one I saw last week. So you're saying that they're comparably neither of them was good. And there's a nice expression also that I thought of. That's as good as it gets. So, for example, if Izzy asked me, how was your vacation to that place? I could say, oh, as good as it gets. Meaning that it can't get any better. That's kind of the way it works, you know, and I was below average. So that super reduced how he said kind of there. How did he say that? Kinda, right? And sometimes you even hear the D sort of dropping there. So it's kinda. That's kinda the way it works. And here he's just being negative right about it.

So he was just saying, just explain the context. He's saying that, you know, I was not very good at basketball when I was younger. It would probably be at the same level. And that's usually the way it happens with kids. You know, most don't become professional athletes, just totally killing his dreams. That's kind of the way it works, you know, and I was below average. All right. He's really reduced the word average there, right? How did he say that? Average. This is normally the way it is said, right? The syllable that has the emphasis there is the first one. So it's like a. And then the rest of the word, you can say it pretty quickly. Average. So he says that he was below average. What does that mean? If you're average, it means you're at the medium of how other people are. If you're above average, it means you're better than most people are. If you're below average, it means you're worse than most people are. And then we could use the word way there, for example, like, you're way above average. You're much better than other people. You're way below average.

You're much worse than other people with the word average. You know, that makes me think of synonyms that can be applied in different circumstances, like middle of the pack. I'm a big fan of sports. So when you say that a team is like, middle of the pack is like, right there in the middle of the rankings, right? It doesn't do so well, but it doesn't do so poorly. So it's middle of the pack. So you'll probably ultimately rank somewhere around there, you know, so he uses a lot of these. You know, he does. Which is very common when we speak. Right. That filler of, you know, he has some nice, connected speech here of, like, ultimately and around there, both being reduced. Ultimately is another one of those words, like, similar to average. You'll often say it by reducing the syllables. So in this case, it sounds more like ultimate. Or you can even drop the t. So it's like ultimate.

You stop the flow of air. Ultimate. And what does ultimate mean in this context? It means that in the end, you know, when we get the results, that's basically going to be how you'll be ranked. Mm hmm. Like, basically, when he becomes older, when he's an adult, you'll have seen that, well, this didn't work out. I didn't grow up to become a professional athlete. Right. Ultimately, that's not what happened. And this is a common pattern, I would say, in pronunciation that you'd hear ultimate. There's other words, like intimate. I hear a lot of times learners saying intimate or ultimate, which is not how you should say it. Right. Like, that last syllable has a schwa sound. It's like mit ultimate intimate estimate. Yeah. So, whoa. So you'll probably ultimately rank somewhere around there, you know? So around there, he actually drops the d sound. This often happens if a word ends in d or t and the next one begins with, like, d, t or th. That we'll just pronounce the second one. So here it becomes around there. Around there. Really? You'll excel at a lot of things, just not this. I don't want you out here shooting this ball around all day and night. All right?

That's a really nice term. Excel at something. What does it mean? If you excel at something? Has to be excellent, right? So maybe a more common word, excellent. To excel at something is to be very good at something. In this case, basketball. Exactly. And that whole phrase was just full of connected speech. Really. You'll excel at a lot of things, just not this. Maybe we could start at the end and work our way back. So just not this. In just, we usually will drop the t sound when it's followed by another consonant. So instead of saying just and having a plosive t at the end, we'll just say just. And we have linking with not. And this again, that same thing I was saying before. That one ends with t. The next one begins with the th. So we just say the thief. Not this. Not this. Just not this. Really? You'll excel at a lot of things, just not this. So this is very good. For training the glottal t sound, which is just like stopping the flow of air because he said you'll excel at a lot of things, just not this. You'll excel at a lot of things, just not this.

So I don't want you out here shooting this ball around all day and night. All right. He used a very nice synonym for basically playing basketball. So could you explain that, Izzy, are you familiar with this term? Yeah, he was saying shooting this ball around, which is like if you shoot the ball in basketball, that's the action of, you know, shooting the ball, throwing it. Throwing it. Yeah. And around here is used to just give that playful tone to what you're describing there. So he's not just like shooting the ball, shooting the ball around, like moving around the court. So you can see that in other phrases, for example, like playing around.

This makes me think too of a synonym we can use for basketball, which is shooting hoops because the hoop or the basket is a place where you try to make a goal. So shooting hoops is just a more colloquial way to talk about the sport. So I don't want you out here shooting this ball around all day and night. All right. And then we had some other nice connected speech examples. So I don't want you out here because I don't want you out here. We have want and you go together. This happens very commonly because we have a t plus a. Yeah. And the u reduces. So it's want you want you. The don't. We have a stop t. So we don't pronounce that t. I don't want you. And out has another glottal t. So we cut off the air at the back of our throat. I don't want you out here. I don't want you out here shooting this ball around. This is really great for practicing connect to speech. So I don't want you out here shooting this ball around all day and night. All right.

And then he finishes that with a, the last part of that sentence. So how does he say that? So there's a very common right to reduce and to just un, like we have cat and dog, salt and pepper day and night. Alright, so that first part was pretty depressing. But don't worry, because it does get better. So get ready for how will Smith turns around the very negative message that he gave his son and turns it into something very inspiring. Hey, don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something. Not even me. All right, all right. You got a dream. You gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves. They wanna tell you you can't do it.

You want something, go get it, period. I just immediately start to get. Get the feels, you know? I just, uh, tear up a bit. Get watery. Tear up a bit. Mm hmm. Definitely hits. Hits the heart. Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something. So here there's more really nice, connected speech. We've seen some of these patterns already, right? Like dropping the t and don't. So it becomes don't ever. Same thing happens with can't. Can do. Can do something. Which, of course, is different than if it were can. The positive. This is frustrating for a lot of learners, and we've made a lesson on our other channel, real life English, all about this. But when it's positive, it'll reduce to Kun. Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something.

And don't ever hear is simply never right. It's just more emphasized. Like, don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something. And also, it's important to note here that he said something in a way that sounded really, like, quick and maybe even lazy, like something. Something. He said that a couple times. So can't do something. Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something. You got a dream, you gotta protect it. Okay, so here he says, you got a dream, you gotta protect it. Something that stands out for me there, Izzy, is that he uses the same sound twice, but it's not actually the same thing that he's saying because he says, you got a dream, you gotta protect it. One is got a with the article, and the other one is got to with a preposition, but both are pronounced as Goda.

Yeah. And that basically just means you have a dream, you have to protect it. People can't do something themselves. They want to tell you you can't do it. If you do something yourself, that means you are doing it on your own or by your own effort. There's a very common expression which is like, diy. Do it yourself. Nice. If you go on YouTube and search for videos, DIY videos, you'll see a lot of people making things for their homes. So rather than paying somebody to do it, they're doing it themselves. Even bookstores will have a DIY section. This probably less common now with the Internet and YouTube, but I remember this being quite common when I was younger.

You want something, go get it, period. So here we hear him say get it. And it's pretty similar to what happened earlier with got a gotta. So get it. And we have just a glottal t there at the end. But it's not being used here as have, is it? It's not saying go have it, saying go achieve it or go find it. Mm hmm. It's nice collocation. There's even like a go getter. This person's a go getter, meaning that they are the kind of person who just go after it and they're like an achiever, right? Yeah. If you're looking for a job, you might even see a company say that they're looking for a go getter. And then Izzy, he says period here.

What does he mean with that use of period? So period? More literally is the dot sign that you place at the end of sentences. So in this case, you're just using it to emphasize a statement. Pretty much just saying that it is final and it is not open to discussion or debate. Alright, guys, I hope that you've really enjoyed learning with it, but now you have to take the challenge of seeing how well you can understand it with. Without the subtitles. I'm going pro. Oh, okay. Yeah, I don't know. You know, you'll probably be about as good as I was. That's kind of the way it works, you know, and I was below average, so you'll probably ultimately rank somewhere around there, you know, really, you'll excel at a lot of things, just not this. I don't want you out here shooting this ball around all day and night. All right? All right. Okay.

All right. Go. Here. Hey. Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something. Not even me. All right, I. All right. You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves. They wanna tell you you can't do it. You want something, go get it. Period.

Education, Language, Vocabulary, English Speech Patterns, Pronunciation, Motivation, Learn English With Tv Series