Stop Sounding Like a Robot English Intonation

Let's begin. Hello everyone and welcome back to podcast by Mr. Today we have great lesson. Hello Mr. am very happy to be here today. Anna, are you okay? am fine, thank you. How are you? Why are you talking like my car's GPS or Terminator? thank goodness. hated doing that. was trying to speak clearly. You were speaking clearly, but you sounded like machine. know. My friend told me yesterday, "Anna, when you speak English, you sound like robot." Ouch. That is not nice compliment. It is terrible compliment. learned the vocabulary. learned the grammar, but still sound flat like pancake. That is exactly what we are fixing today. If your goal is to sound natural, that's great goal. It is my only goal. want to sound human, not like microwave. Today we are learning about inonation. Inonation is that new country? No. Intonation is the music of English. Music? Do need to sing? La. No singing required. But spoken English goes up and down. It is melody. Up and down like roller coaster. Exactly. If you speak with flat voice, native speakers get confused. Really? Why? Because intonation changes the meaning of the words. It tells us your emotion. It tells us if you are asking question. yesterday said am so excited but my voice was flat. Let me guess. Your friend thought you were being sarcastic. Yes. She thought was bored. It was disaster. Well today have four intonation secrets for you. Are you ready? am ready. Let's ride the roller coaster. Secret number one, the question lift. The question lift. Going up. Exactly. In English, when you ask yes or no question, your voice must go up at the very end. Like asking if you want coffee. Yes. robot says, "Do you want coffee?" flat. That sounds scary. like poisoned coffee, right? human says, "Do you want coffee?" Voice goes high on the last syllable. Do you want coffee? Voice goes up. Perfect. Your pitch rises. Let me try another one. Are you hungry? Voice goes up. Exactly. Is it raining? Are you robot? Voice goes up. Short and clear. You are mastering the question lift. Okay. So, questions go up. Got it. But be careful. This is only for yes or no questions. What about other questions like who, what, where? that brings us to secret number two. The information drop. The information drop going down. Yes. If the question starts with who, what, where, when, why, or how, your voice goes down at the end. Down. But it is question. know English is tricky. Listen to this. What is your name? Voice drops on name. What is your name? Voice drops. that feels powerful. It does. If you say, "What is your name?" With high pitch, you sound very surprised. Like, can't believe they have name. Exactly. Now, let's practice the drop. Where do you live? Voice drops. Where do you live? Voice drops. How old are you? Voice drops. How old are you? This is fun. sound like detective. You do sound like detective. So, yes, no questions go up. Wh questions go down. Short and clear. like these rules. What's next? Secret number three, the list melody. The list melody. Like shopping list. Exactly. When you list three or more things, your voice goes up, up, and then down on the last one. Show me. need to buy apples. Up. Bananas. up and milk down. Apples up, bananas up and milk down. Perfect. Why do we do this? Maybe to tell people we're not finished yet. Exactly. The up pitch tells the listener, "Wait, have more to say." The down pitch means, am finished. You can talk now." That is so polite. Let me try. For breakfast, ate eggs up, toast up, and shoe down. shoe? Anna, why are you eating shoes? ran out of bacon. But was my melody correct? Your melody was perfect. Your diet is terrible. Thank you. Okay, now for the most important rule. Secret number four. The power word. The power word. love power. In English, we stress the most important word in sentence. We make it slightly louder and we raise the pitch. Give me an example. Let's take simple sentence. didn't eat your pizza. tragedy. Someone ate the pizza. Now listen to how the meaning changes when stress different words. Okay, I'm listening. Number one, didn't eat your pizza. that means you didn't eat it, but maybe John ate it. Exactly. Now listen to this. didn't eat your pizza. Wait, you didn't eat it. What did you do to it? Did you throw it away? Yes. Or maybe sat on it. But the focus is on the action. Okay, give me another one. didn't eat your pizza. that means you ate someone else's pizza. Maybe you ate my mom's pizza. Precisely. And the last one. didn't eat your pizza. That means you ate her sandwich. You ate her food, but not the pizza. Perfect. Do you see how powerful this is? We didn't change the grammar. We only changed the music. That is amazing. One sentence, four different meanings. That is the power of intonation. If you're robot, you stress nothing. If you're human, you choose the power word. Got it. So, if I'm angry, can use the power word. Yes. told you to clean your room. told you to clean your room. Wow. sound like very angry mother. You do. You are definitely not robot anymore. I'm human roller coaster of emotions. Well, before you get too emotional, let's do our quick review. Yes. Let's lock this into my memory. Listeners, we want you to practice speaking out loud. Don't just listen. Repeat after us. Ride the roller coaster. Number one, the yes no question lift. Are you ready? Voice goes up. Are you ready? Voice goes up. Number two, the wh question drop. What time is it? Voice goes down. What time is it? Voice goes down. Number three, the list melody. One up, two up, three down. One up, two up, and three down. Perfect. And the fourth, the power word. am learning English. Stress the word am learning English. Stress the word Perfect. You guys sound amazing. We sound like native speakers. Now it is time for the practice challenge. The intonation challenge. What do they have to do? want you to look at this sentence. She is my best friend. She is my best friend. want you to stress the word best. She is my best friend. What does that mean? Why are we stressing best? That is the challenge. Listeners, if stress the word best, what is the secret meaning? Does it mean she is not my sister or does it mean have other friends but she is number one? Don't give them the answer. Anna, listeners, write your answer in the comments. We will read every comment and no robots allowed. So Anna, your intonation is great now. Are you ready for our next lesson? am, but have problem. What is it? can speak with intonation, but when go to party, don't know what to say to people. just stare at them. You stare at them. That is very awkward. Very awkward. need help making small talk. Well, that's perfect because our next episode is how to survive small talk without being awkward. thank goodness. Please teach me how to talk about the weather. We will learn the weather, the weekend, and everything else. can't wait. Thanks for listening, everyone. Have great week. Bye, humans.