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Hey everyone, and welcome back 
to another episode of the 

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Understandable English Podcast. 
My name is Oliver and today we 

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are going to be talking about a 
very important or commonly asked

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about topic and that is how to 
speak English more like a native

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speaker. 
Time and time again, so very, 

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very often I see English 
language learners wanting to 

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speak English more like a native
speaker. 

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Perhaps they want to have an 
English accent, or maybe they 

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want to learn slang or use the 
words that native English 

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speakers use, but it's really 
common in general. 

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So today I want to give you a 
sort of step by step guide as to

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how I would advise you to try to
sound more like a native 

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speaker. 
But first I want to say that I 

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don't think it's important. 
I don't think having an English 

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accent is important or using 
slang. 

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Personally, I think that 
everyone should be proud of 

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their accent and the most 
important thing is just to be 

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understood. 
So to be clear and 

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understandable. 
But anyway, today we will talk 

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about how to sound more like a 
native speaker. 1st, I just want

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to very quickly remind you that 
I do have sort of bonus content 

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now, an extra episode of the 
podcast each week for premium 

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subscribers. 
If you're interested in that and

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it's available in your country, 
it costs just £0.99 per month. 

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So that's a little over $1.00 
and it helps to support this 

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podcast and you get lots of 
extra episodes every month. 

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OK, and also check out my free 
YouTube channel. 

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The link is in the description 
for easy English vlogs. 

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So let's get into the main 
podcast. 

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OK? 
So the first step that I would 

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usually advise learners to look 
at is signs. 

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So these are the important signs
of the language and the 

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pronunciation. 
So the first step in speaking 

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like a native speaker is 
definitely pronunciation. 

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Native speakers, I would say, 
often have specific or very set 

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ways of pronouncing certain 
signs. 

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And actually how you pronounce 
these signs in English can 

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depend on the area you're from. 
For example, even in different 

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parts of the UK, you will 
pronounce these signs 

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differently. 
Like let's give an example with 

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the ER sound. 
So any word that ends in an ER, 

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if you're from, for example, the
north of the UK or Northern 

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Ireland, you will pronounce 
these signs like a hard signs 

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like ER. 
And if you're from the South of 

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England or many areas of 
England, you will pronounce it 

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with a soft sound like an AH. 
So for example, I would say 

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being from Northern Ireland, I 
would say pyre and someone from 

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the South of England would say 
power like a soft signed. 

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So that is something to keep in 
mind. 

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What type of accent do you want?
Do you want to signed like 

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you're from Scotland or from 
Northern Ireland or from London?

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And even in London, there are 
lots of different accents. 

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But maybe you just want to sound
like the queen or the king now, 

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and that's OK too. 
But it's something to keep in 

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mind. 
OK, so once you know what accent

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you want, you need to focus on 
the signs and practice how to 

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say them. 
There's lots of videos online 

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and really focus and practice 
these key signs. 

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The next step is you're going to
want to listen to lots of native

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speakers. 
This is so important. 

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You know, even listening to 
movies or music or YouTube 

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videos, these are the best ways.
Actually, to be honest, I don't 

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think music is a great way to 
learn speech. 

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But the best way in my view is 
listening to real content. 

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Even TV shows and movies in some
ways are not representative, so 

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they don't reflect or show how 
the real English sounds. 

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So in some ways, it is better to
watch real YouTube videos or 

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Instagram or content from real 
English people. 

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This is a great way to learn and
practice. 

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But here is the key part that 
lots of people miss. 

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They will listen to this stuff, 
they will watch it and they 

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think, hmm, if I listen to it 
and watch it, that's fine. 

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I will suddenly start to speak 
more like this in the future. 

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But you need to copy it and 
repeat the signs and the words 

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to start to speak like these 
people, like the native 

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speakers. 
That's what you need to actually

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make sure you do to make it a 
practice, not just improving 

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your understanding. 
Yes, listening and watching 

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English content helps to improve
our understanding. 

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It does help our vocabulary, but
only by actually practicing or 

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speaking will we improve the 
pronunciation and the sound of 

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how we speak. 
We need to actually actively 

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work on it. 
OK. 

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The next key point I would say 
to focus on is something I call 

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or I think it's actually called 
connected speech or connecting 

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speech. 
And these are words that flow 

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and join together, and maybe 
they change a little bit. 

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And often native speakers will 
say them in a very specific way.

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And actually from consuming or 
watching or listening to native 

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English content, you will hear 
these phrases. 

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And then you can think, hmm, I 
need to use this or I need to 

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learn this. 
And I'll give you some examples 

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of these. 
For example, linking words. 

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This could be saying I'm gonna 
instead of I am going to, it 

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gets shortened to I'm gonna. 
Or for example, what are you 

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doing? 
Could be what you're doing. 

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So a short version of that. 
Of course, not everyone uses 

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these short versions and some 
are more specific to different 

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countries. 
Like I would say what you're 

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doing, what are you doing is 
more American. 

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But even here in the UK, we 
would often say I'm gonna 

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instead of I am going to. 
And these would be called 

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reductions, making the words 
smaller. 

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So joining together more. 
Oh, another one I would use as 

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well, maybe quite often is 
wanna. 

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So instead of I want to, I might
say I wanna. 

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And perhaps by using these you 
can also start to sound a little

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bit more native. 
But try to use them naturally. 

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Don't use them all the time, and
don't overuse them. 

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So using them too much to the 
point where it's unnatural. 

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Native speakers would also tend 
to use these types of phrases or

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words in more casual social 
situations. 

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So not so much at work or in 
maybe school or academia. 

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We would use them more with 
friends or casual interactions, 

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and that would be the main use. 
OK, so the Third Point I want to

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talk about is very difficult, 
and it's actually quite 

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difficult to explain. 
And I think this is an area that

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a lot of learners struggle with 
or at least never think about, 

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and that is intonation and 
rhythm. 

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What does that mean? 
So native English speakers have 

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a certain melody or a rhythm 
when they speak, and that is not

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what they're saying, but how 
they say it, how they say it, if

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I want to say it more English. 
So the tone, so how we say it 

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can go up or down depending on 
what we're saying. 

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Let's take for example, when we 
ask questions, the tone tends to

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go up at the end if it's a yes 
or no question. 

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Like for example, are you 
coming? 

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You can hear my voice rises at 
the end. 

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This is a basic example. 
And then the reply to that 

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question might be, I am coming. 
So the tone drops or falls at 

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the end. 
So when you're listening to 

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English content, it's really 
important to listen to how the 

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rhythm or the melody of the 
speech is. 

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And that is, in my eyes, more 
important than accent. 

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It's more important than the 
words. 

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It is how to really truly sound 
like a native speaker. 

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And it can be very hard to 
learn, maybe even impossible to 

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study it. 
But you can practice and improve

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by copying or imitating rhythm 
or tone. 

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But over time, you will 
naturally find your own rhythm 

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and intonation, which will 
develop and begin to sound more 

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natural. 
OK. 

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Another part of this which is 
equally as important is 

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emphasizing important words. 
Now, native speakers, definitely

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don't stress every word equally.
You can hear. 

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I just did it. 
I said native speakers don't 

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stress every word equally, or 
definitely don't stress every 

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word equally. 
I stressed the word definitely 

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to put extra emphasis on it. 
Now, we do this in our own 

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native languages, but often when
we speak in a foreign language, 

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we don't really emphasize or 
stress words as much as we 

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should. 
Now don't do this with 

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everything, but do pay attention
to it when you're listening to 

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native speakers. 
Speak and experiment and 

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practice emphasizing more words.
You might find it very helpful. 

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For example, a very commonly 
stressed word is really, So for 

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example, I really want to go, 
and that emphasizes that you 

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want to go. 
It's a stressing or an 

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emphasizing word to show that 
you really want to go. 

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And try practicing this with 
some of your sentences. 

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Now with each of these things, 
the tone and the stressing or 

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emphasizing of words, listen for
them. 

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Watch for them. 
When you're what, listening to a

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podcast, even my podcast or ATV 
show or a YouTube video, listen 

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for them. 
Try to identify these points to 

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find them and then copy them. 
That is the key, the secret, if 

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you will. 
OK, so the 4th point, this is 

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going to be a longer podcast 
today because I think there are 

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very important tips in this step
by step guide. 

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So the 4th point is to expand 
your vocabulary, but mainly by 

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using idiomatic expressions. 
So idiomatic expressions or 

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colloquial phrases we could call
them, and most importantly from 

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these are phrasal verbs. 
If we look at first idioms, I'll

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be honest, I don't use a lot of 
idioms in my speech and the 

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biggest mistake I see learners 
use with idioms is overusing 

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them. 
So maybe they've heard in class 

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an idiom like it's raining cats 
or dogs or something like this 

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and they try to use it all the 
time. 

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They will quickly realise that 
not many people say it, 

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particularly younger people or 
the younger generation. 

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Idioms were much more popular in
the past and I've noticed, 

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particularly amongst my 
generation, that they aren't 

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used so much, but phrasal verbs 
are so important. 

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I know they're difficult and 
there are so many to learn, but 

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do start to add these and use 
them in your conversations and 

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practice them as much as you 
can. 

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It is a really key point or a 
core point to sound more 

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natural. 
I am working on an ebook for 

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phrasal verbs at the moment with
short stories to teach phrasal 

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verbs. 
I'm not sure when it'll be 

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ready, but I will let you guys 
know when that's available. 

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OK, the next point when we're 
talking about all of these verbs

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and phrases are colloquial 
phrases. 

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So for example, instead of 
saying how are you? 

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You might say what's up or how's
it going? 

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And this can be different in 
each part or place of the UK 

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too. 
Don't overuse these or say them 

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too much, but using a few of 
them here and there in your 

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speech can look very natural and
make you sound much more like a 

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fluent speaker or a native 
speaker. 

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It's a great way to make your 
speech more interesting. 

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But again, try to use them more 
in casual settings like with 

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friends or outside of the 
workplace. 

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Don't use them so much in work 
because it can look quite 

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unprofessional. 
OK, so I have a few final points

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on how to practice. 
So now that I've given you all 

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of the areas that you should 
focus on. 

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Now how to practice. 
I've already mentioned listening

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to lots of stuff and repeating, 
but here are a few extra points.

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This one is basic or easy to 
understand, and that is talking 

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with native speakers and 
listening to them. 

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Try to meet them maybe at a 
language exchange club or an 

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English speaking club, or maybe 
through a service like Tandem or

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Hello Talk, or perhaps even just
a teacher that you have lessons 

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with. 
It's one of the best ways. 

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Next is actually to record 
yourself speaking. 

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So to make some sentences, speak
it into your phone's microphone 

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and play it back and listen. 
This will help you to hear 

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different areas that you can 
improve or make better. 

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And finally, try to stay 
consistent. 

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If you're trying to sound more 
like a native speaker, you need 

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to be practicing it almost every
day. 

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I'm not saying you have to every
day, but it's better to do, for 

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example 10 minutes practice per 
day than, you know, two hours 

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once per week in my opinion. 
It's good to practice a little 

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bit every day if you can, and 
that will help you to have 

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continuous improvement over 
time. 

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So thank you so much for 
listening today. 

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Remember, if you're interested 
in supporting the podcast and 

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it's available in your country, 
I know it's not available 

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everywhere, do subscribe to the 
premium Spotify podcast. 

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The link is in the description 
below and you will get access 

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for just a little over a dollar 
per month. 

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You'll get access to extra bonus
podcasts and you can ask me any 

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question and I will answer them 
in the podcast for you. 

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And also make sure to check out 
below and subscribe to the 

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understandable English YouTube 
channel where I post for free 

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for everyone easy English vlogs.
So real life content from my 

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life in English, which is easy 
for you to understand and 

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practice. 
So thank you again for listening

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and I hope you have have an 
amazing day and I wish you the 

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best of luck with improving your
English pronunciation and 

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speaking goodbye.