Sort by time | Sort by thread (beta)

Link to this comment:

Share to:

All Comments (336)

Sign In or Sign Up now to post a comment!
  • Please can people who know nothing about linguistics and phonology please refrain from commenting, it makes you look ignorant. The man in the video is absolutely correct and it's a phenomenon known as the "unreleased plosive".

  • Actually, he is absolutely correct... Most American and English people do not say can'T, they say can'? where the ? symbol is a glottal stop or an unreleased "t".

    It is one of the KEY features that enables people to tell whether you are a native English speaker or not and the phenomenon is taught in phonology lectures at universities...

    Contrary to what people are saying, it does not make "can't" sound like "can"... and if you do fully release the "t" it sounds foreign or emphatic.

  • why you talkin so slow, bra? and you spelled syllable wrong

  • If you say can't as can in Utah, it TOTALLY changes the meaning. I'm sorry but, even in UTAH where we almost never pronounce out T's we STILL say it in all your examples. And also (I think he might be doing this so people understand) nobody talks that slow. In fact most people talk pretty fast. No offense to anyone, but this video isn't correct.

  • This guy is from Mars. I do not know any American that talks that way.

  • This is so wrong, it's hilarious.

  • Who the hell pronounces can't as can. lol. wtf.

  • This is a very simplistic analysis of the pronunciation of /t/ before or after /n/ in stressed vs. unstressed syllables. It probably confuses the heck out of people learning English as a second language; they would oversimplify the rule and end up mispronouncing words thinking they're using "the rules" of American English.

  • He is correct to an extent. Sometimes when people say, " can't" , I cannot hear the "t". I have to ask, "Is that can't with a "t"? When speaking I try to enunciate the final t's, so there is no misunderstanding. Maybe it is better to avoid confusion and say," do not, did not, should not etc."

  • this guy is so stupid.......honestly.....has he ever heard an american speak?

  • WTF???? THIS IS RIDICULOUS....IF YOU DON'T PRONOUNCE THE T IN CAN'T IT'S JUST CAN WOW THIS INFO IS TOTALLY WRONG WOW WHERE THE HELL IS HE FROM?

  • What? No one pronounces those words that way. Jeez. It's like he's never talked to a real American.

  • this video is a complete and utter fail the n before the shut the hell up

  • Okay, I have been an American since I was born here. This is the first time I ever heard that I was pronouncing "can't" wrong.

  • ... what does talking realllllyyyyyy slowwwww have to do with anything? Haha. Crazy guy.

  • Uh...no..I'm American and when I speak you can hear the "T"

  • take it from a NYer , this guy is pretty good. These other assholes are midwest or west or southern hicks.

  • @ElephantDrunk heh heh youre not the only kind of american

  • @ElephantDrunk So you're saying that anyone not from New York is an asshole?? That only shows what an asshole YOU are. I've been to New York...it's FULL of assholes! The rudest people I've ever met in my life...and I've been all over America!

  • @shreve99 YOU are a hick. in NY we have tons of fucking assholes, just like you, they just aint hicks like you are.

  • this guy's business will be a failure!

  • Actually, he is not far off the mark. The only problem is that he speaks so deliberately and slowly (although he is perhaps doing this to help others who are English language learners). What he says is NOT wrong. Some Americans do indeed pronounce the "t" and some do not. It all depends on region, education, etc. I am American, by the way, and grew up in the USA (I'm also a linguist). He clips a bit too much at the end of the "n't" examples, but in general, he is correct.

  • I'm an american and I don't know a single person that talks like this. If you don't pronounce the "t", people will think you are retarded.

  • don't = doan

    didn't = dih

    can't = can

    shouldn't = shoon

    isn't = isn

    weren't = wern

    this video = bullshit

  • The fact of the matter is that this guy is teaching bad English. LOL But he is doing this because most Americans don't use good diction when they speak. I guarantee you if you record yourself speaking then you listen to it you'll be horrified.

  • hahah he's so slow that i fell asleep watchin his video

  • This guy is full of shit. I don't know any Americans that sound like this.

  • he is very weird

  • Holy hell, after clicking on this video i damn near fell asleep and drooled on my keyboard. What an amazingly boring bloak!

  • I'm American. Since when do we not pronounce the T in "can't" "isn't"? I do.

  • Interesting I'm American and pronounce the T's on can't and don't etc...

  • His voice gives me a headache. If you talk like this in America...People will hate you.

  • This guy sounds like he's from a small town in a valley where they make maple syrup. don't try to learn an accent...I am American and have been told that I do not have an accent by many european english speakers and non-english speakers. This is because I simply talk in my own way. There is no American accent. The accent you hear in films is that of southern california and Washington DC. There are actually hundreds of accents in America.

  • WE PRONOUNCE THE T !!!

  • He looks stoned out of his mind.

  • @videouploader516 i agree

  • the N T example is horrible, i do not speak anything like that. never in my life have i replaced "isn't" with "isn'".

  • @pinpoint45 I hear it a fair amount here in the pacific northwest, but it's not so much that the words stop at the "n" but midway through and just never reaches the "t." A couple of my better humoured teachers during school would tease students about their lazy speech. I think the drop offs are more common amongst younger Gen. X through Y+ (used to be a lot of CA transplants). Older adults that I know who are natives here seem to carry more of a twang that's a mix between the two.

  • Eh...no. I do pronounce the t after the n in don't can't and won't, even in the middle of a sentence. and I do NOT pronounce the first t in internet. I say innernet. I say dentist, with a t. I say mi-en (glottal stop in place of double t), Bri-ain, mou-ain (in fast speech, glottal stop in place of nt. In regular speech, I say mountain). as for most of my t's, they are either true t's (even the ones after n) or alveolar taps (between vowel sounds).

  • @uRBruna I'm not saying no one omits t's after n, I'm merely trying to point out how misleading this is, because the title mentions "the" American accent. no such thing. New York alone has an accent for every borough it seems.

  • Q. What do Americans call a Dentist ?

    A. A Denist !!

  • "can" ?

  • I'm from South Jersey. I'd say it's pretty accurate for how I speak as well as most of my friends around here.

  • This is so wrong!

    I'm American and I definitely don'T (THERE IS A T. SAY IT.) talk like that. Nor does anyone else I know.

  • WE DO NOT DELETE THE "T" WHEN WE TALK... so wrong...

  • @SoCalCaitlin14 Say Identity !! with both Ts !!

  • @SoCalCaitlin14 Say Identity !! with both Ts !! Also try Betty bought a bit of butter !!

  • i do not sound like that.. -.- thats very offensive

  • im American and i pronouce the first "t" in internet and the "t" in sent, i dont elimiate it like you do. Of course it depends on the dialect but not for the entire country

    and the way you prounced "can't" makes it sound like "can" which is totally wrong if you're trying to say can't

  • I think he's overstating the negation but he is somewhat correct. The words (were) and (weren't) aren't pronounced much differently but while (weren't) is the longer word it is more abruptly pronounced. And the voice rises when pronouncing (were) and declines when (weren't) is stated.

  • DONT LISTEN TO HIM I AM AMERICAN AND WHAT HE IS SAYING IS WRONGGG!!!

  • @carlay31 Say Identity !! with both Ts !

  • @carlay31 so could you help me about my speaking?

    I need to practice with a native in English by Skype or something like that

    I hope your answer

  • the intro is too freakin long dude

  • this is terrible....people dont say couldn

  • @themachinegunn Oh yes they do and worse !!

  • don't talk like this or people will think youre loco

  • "Innernet?" Gawd! That's not how we say it!

  • His pronunciations of the contractions given is completely misleading for someone trying to learn the language. You really should pronounce the "t", just don't stumble over it. Let the "t" sound happen, don't go out of your way to negate the sound.

  • @audrasaysrawr WTF!!! i have an american accent and when i say things with "nt" u can hear me pronounce the "t"!! thats is SOOO misleading!!!!

  • Well, I am not american and not english, but even I find this video a bit strange. How can you say "don" "can" and "dinn" except of "don't" "can't" and "didn't"? oO

    And I am not sure that "souldn't" sounds like "shoon" =D

    DON'T "EAT" ENDINGS OF THE WORDS LIKE THIS, PLZ!

  • @Chantere3 you're right. im an american and everyone i know pronounces there T's

  • Comment removed

  • O_o He's staring into my very soul! :O

  • I like French

  • He is not a native American English speaker. He is either Spanish or Portuguese/Brazilian - easily spotted. He has a good accent, but not to the level of a native.

  • Please tell me he isn't on something. Couldn't he have spoken normally?

    Also, 'dint' is substandard for 'didn't'. No one pronounces 'didn't' that way, except perhaps in some dialects, not in standard American English.

  • pourquoi il parle si lent vous êtes stupide!

  • This is a horrible video. The way he teaches can completely change the meaning of a word/sentence.

  • if u are a retarded brit, u should should def watch this vid. if u want to live a normal life, ignore this moron.

  • what a faggot

  • This is wrong. You are suppose to pronouce the n and t. If you don't you will be speaking slang which is not professional.

  • @Link13BC No natural American English speaker pronouces the "t" fully in words like "internet' or rent." It sounds affected.

  • @strawberryseason I do. It comes and goes with words like little, depending on what's following, but in your examples, my mouth would feel strange leaving them out.

  • This guy is a spammer do not watch this video there is nothing but advert spam.

  • I don't reccomend anyone to learn from this video. This guy sounds like he's retarded.

  • Rubbish.....

  • well, not really wuth couldn't

  • He's teaching people incorrectly. Eliminating the 't' is only heard in very regional accents, e.g., Philadelphia (aka Fluffya), Baltimore (aka Bawdymoar). The 'nt' combo either has a 'flapped' t (where the tongue flaps against the anterior hard palate) or an aspirated 't', even if it's at the end of a word that is in liaison with the following word in many cases. Anyway, he pronounces things in a strange accent ('shouldn't' is not pronounced 'shoon' and 'weren't ' is not pronounced 'wern')

  • I think more Americans watch these types of videos than the people who actually need the lesson. haha

  • @1m0pt1m15t1c

    haha

  • Um, okay, you probably shouldn't be teaching how to speak in an American accent if you talk like your speaking to a kindergartner. And you pronounce things a bit weirdly.

  • My Opinion. YMMV While I think this might be helpful for advanced students to try and sound more american than say british (Spy training?!?) It is not something to capitalize on. This tendency is more a laziness/ laissez-faire approach to speaking and reflects poor diction. Sure people do talk like this. I dunno why !

  • I think that the T does sorta disappear in those words but if you've grown up speaking like that and hearing it you hear the T and understand the difference between words such as should and shouldn't but if you didn't I think it would be quite hard to understand.

  • What kind of advice is this? People will think you mean can when you mean can't. The other examples were difficult to understand as well.

  • Well, perhaps he talks talks incredibly slowly because.....

    he teaches English as a Second Language?

    Well, someone has to have the patient to talk slowly to foreign students of English before they get more comfortable with a normal paced kind of conversation.

    Great job, Mr Balson.

  • What The-

    I Pronounce My T's Fine.

    Thank You.

  • im american and i cant even pronounce the word ancient..it comes out sounding like "AYNG SHIT" and i always say it over and over again....

  • This is completely wrong! The letter t does NOT disappear in the American Accent what so ever!

    First of all words such as "shouldn't, couldn't, wouldn't, can't, don't, isn't, and won't " are contractions of the words "should not, could not, would not, can not, do not, is not, and will not".

    The t does NOT disappear in fact they are pronounced. I mean I would know better than this guy, because I am in fact an American. So I should know how my accent works haha :).

  • Nice video, but I consciously pronounce the ending 'nt' or 'n't' when I speak. I teach English to primary students in France and I would not speak to them the way that you speak in the video.

    I think that you must have a super northern Midwestern accent. I honestly try not to speak as you do and I try to enunciate all letters when I speak. I don't like the blending of letter sounds where that can be avoided.

  • @Prodigious1One Just pay attention to yourself next time you speak to someone. I didn't believe it at first, then I spoke to my sister and it naturally came out that way. I, myself, don't have a specific accent. My father is from Washington state and my mother is from Oklahoma. I also come from a well educated background, so that could also be the reason. My sister is actually an English teacher and is hoping to move to Munich to teach there.

  • Comment removed

  • what's with the sexy time music in the background?

  • what's wrong with his eyes... creepy

  • @1ThatsWassup1: He was high when he made this video

  • You're trying too hard, speaking too slowly. It just makes you sound VERY creepy. Before teaching others, you need to, uh, get it down fluently.

  • Idiots: This man is simply catering to those who speak English semi-fluently.

    E.g. NOT YOU.

    Fuck off back to your "fatal accidents" compilations.

  • Talk about lag!

  • You didn't say which (or even if) you are from a particular state in the Union buddy, but I can assure you that in the state in which I reside, we do pronounce our terminal t's even if preceded by the letter n. Sorry to be so blunt, but your generalization that ALL Americans drop terminal t's makes us sound like uneducated dumbbells and that is simply not the case.

  • do we have an aaccent? in america?

  • @simbahockey no everyone else does, you're special

  • @simbahockey wow

  • 55 firsts seconds were plain shite. the rest of the videowas beyond shite.

    AmE n+t = n.

  • robot?? omg boring

  • No wonder "internet" sounds like "in a net".

  • @HoSayLiaoLah It actually depends on where you are in America. Where I'm from we say inner net for internet. This video is actually a terrible example of American dialect. :)

  • @snappydoo14 it actually changes for me, most of the time i say inner net, but somtime i do say internet

  • wow what a douche

  • fuck you

  • i prefer the british accent, it's pure and untersdandable

  • is it just me or does he sound retarded? xD

  • Ouch! "SYLABLE"?! I felt like an idiot while this guy was talking to me. But at "sylable" I realized HE is one.

  • @Yashodam ---I'm sure he omitted the L on purpose so the whole phrase would fit onto one line. He's obviously well educated and can spell 'syllable'

  • @gabsylv

    Right. I'm not so sure about that. How 'bout using a smaller font? That would quite solve the problem. Wrong spelling justified to make the phrase fit into one line? That bites.

  • He's talking slow because this video is supposed to be for people learning the language such as a spanish person..probably the reason for the bilingual title. Just like my mom, who can't speak english very well, constantly asks me to repeat things slower for her to make out what i am saying. I feel the same way while i am studying german

  • @DARR0Y Hahahahahaha damn it! He seems soooo stupid. (but in a good way, he's trying to help and also looks funny)

    This video must be for realllyyy beginners, those who have taken one or two lessons, but that's the way we all start ^^

  • BTW som of us talk fast on purpose...

  • @NiarbReysu why do you talk fast on purpose?

  • @laineswaby1036

    Sometimes it's a game other times it's to sneak somethings in and sometimes it's just to amuse myself (I like the blank stare some of my friends give me...it's hilarious!)

  • Actually folks, (those of u who are talking about speed) Northerners do talk fast, but some southerners do to (like in the dirty south). It really depends on where u r... Detroit, MI... yeah most people I know (includin me) talk fast...

  • He's so...CREEPY!!! O.o

  • nice one ,isn't!? :)

  • perez hilton's long lost brother.

  • para todas las personas quien hablan espanol: NO USAN ESTE VIDEO. el hombre no es muy inteligente y no sabe que esta diciendo.

  • yo le encanta hablando dos idiomas, i love being bilingual, lol,

  • @idwiw6057 that sentence in spanish is not well built, you cannot translate directly from english if you want to speak or write correcltly, your sentence should be like this: Me encanta hablar dos idiomas(or Me encanta ser bilingue:which is closer to your original english-spanish meaning)= I love being bilingual

  • This guy is atrocious, especially the way he said 'didn't.' This is not proper American English. This is ghetto American.

  • hes totally freaking me out g

  • he is speaking too slow... oh my got i cant take it....

  • his eyes aaaargh

  • American Accent Trainer in Los Angeles,

    California, USA Happy New Year 2010

    Thanks

  • Everything he explains here is absolutely correct. As linguits, this is how we get foreigners studying ESL or Direct English to understand the subtleties of some of the many American pronunciations. You just cannot expect people to get it if You speak to them the way you do in the US.

  • umm if you don't pronounce the t at all then it's a different word.

    And American's don't have a unified accent. You just sound like a retard, or a person speaking English as a second language who used horrible videos to learn the. . . oh wait. . .never mind

  • Never do we not pronounce the T at all. It's always accounted for by the mouth. But there is an English accent variant where they don't pronounce the T at all. We'll be there in a Lih-O bit gov-nah.

  • It's an American accent video, not Brittish. . . it's total shit

  • gay

  • This guy talks incredibly slow and irritating.

    Not the best example of a American accent.

    And he pronounces weird.

  • because the video is made for NON English speakers to learn. If he were speaking the way we do normally, then they wouldn't understand. They'd be lost.

  • He talks slow because he is supposed to be understood by foreign people, not from people whose first language is English :)

  • God damned teacher

  • One word of advice to anyone who is trying to learn to speak with an American accent... not to say this nice man is wrong, but most Americans, when speaking, do pronounce "nt" at the end of a word. However, this man is correct when he says that we do tend to make the "t" less prounced. Remember to keep your vowels short and your words slurred. :-)

  • Your words slurred?! Why do Americans like to think they are hard to understand and slurr your words. Americans talk slow and over pronouncing every word. It's the British that talk fast, slurr and merge words together.

  • You can do both over-pronounce a word and slur it with another at the same time. I would also like to mention that I never said I thought we were hard to understand. I'm not trying to argue with you and I don't want to pick a fight, but I believe we do slur our words. And depending on what region of America your are in, the pace in which americans speak is different as well.

  • Umm . . . no. Have you been to New York? How about Pennsylvania? Maybe in the south Americans take their time while speaking but if you actually look into the whole of America you'll find that northern American's slur words and speak very quickly.

  • I've been to New York, not Pennsylvannia. I've been around America though - generally you do talk a lot slower than the British. It always seems to suprise Americans how hard British people are to understand; especially when talking to each other. Alot of people would ask us to slow down. Very few of us talk like you think we do by the way. And none of us talk like the Queen. You want a fast accent, scouse, geordie and glasweigen make any americans accent sound like slo-mo ha!

  • only some british do that. most americans drop random letters and let words jumble together. but they don't think they're hard to understand, especially not compared to the british. theothercullen2 was just trying to help.

  • Comment removed

  • Scary

  • Hahaha!!

    so he speaks slow because people who don't have an american accent are dumb? what an idiot!

  • so you can hear each word. americans slur their words.

  • oh my god you're retarded. NO, that's not why. have you ever tried to learn a second language? if you have, you probably didn't notice how unbelievably slow the teacher speaks when in their own language. every single ESL teacher speaks slow so their students can understand them and catch every word... and especially in american english, with the classic example of "did you eat yet" turning into "d'j'eet yet" when spoken casually.

  • @averagewizard We completely drop letters tho.

    To me most Americans sound like theyre saying bedder rather than better, whereas most brits would pronounce it beh'uh - nothing at all replacing the missing T. here in yorkshire 'smarra wi'im' would mean 'whats a matter with him.' Thats dropping letters and merging words together. You guys are a lot easier to understand than somone who lives 30miles North, east, or west of me due to how many accents and regional dialects there are in England

  • @doitagain1311 No, I guess it's cause they won't understand english just guessing.. lmfao...

  • Tips like these are great for anyone who loves american accent. they really are of high value. I apprecciate your videos. Keep it up.

    Thanks a lot.

  • hey 1 advise man : don't talk to us as if we were retards x)

    cut out the soooo slown talking

  • for foreign people he speaks english just fine.

  • you are so ignorant.

    most of the world beyond your obese country speak english better than you can retard

  • WHAT? i'm pretty sure timmhg was talking about people who speak english as a second language.

  • I dont know where this guy is from, but most foreigners land on the east coast, and we dont sound like this guy at all.

  • dude.. i almost fell asleep while watching the video..

    TALK FASTER, we're not retards!!

  • why are u speaking so slowly ?? this video is for foreigners like me and not for downs !! im spanish and im not stupid... if i speak u like u to me u ill feel offended isnt it ??

  • why is he talking like a fucking spastic?

  • what's wrong with his eyes.. i

  • he is a retard

  • he sounds like such a fucking dumbass

    XD