Hi students, trying out a different type of video today, it's not going to be a standard dictation, but I hope still a good listening and a pronunciation practice for you. I'm also going to be trying a different style of video where you'll see me go back and forth between my presentation and the screen that you're seeing right now so that you can see my face while you hear my voice and then also see the information on my screen. So what we're going to be talking about today is the reduced pronunciation of specific words in American English. Not the reduced phrases like when I say, ganna, what we're going to be talking about today. Not the specific phrases, but individual words that often get cut or shortened. Important things that we need to review before we jump into this topic is the idea of syllable. So remember that syllable is a piece of a word. For example, the word syllable has three pieces. Se la boule. There's three pieces. There's three syllables in the word syllable. We can divide any word up like this if we think about the word school. School. One piece, one syllable. If we think about the word education, education, voice syllables. So as we go through these specific words, we're going to be talking about, we're going to, we're going to be talking about how many syllables the word should have and how many syllables are actually pronounced in common American English. The next thing that we have to think about is what I'm going to refer to as the clear form or the clear pronunciation. Often this might be considered the British pronunciation of the word. And then I'm going to use the phrase reduced form to talk about the smaller, shortened, cut pronunciation of the word that's more commonly heard in American English. So let's jump right in. I'm not sure how many words we're going to talk about today. We'll see how long the video goes. I don't want it to be too long. So this might end up being cut into two videos. Our first word to talk about is on your screen. If I want to look at the word itself and talk about my very clear pronunciation, I might say, tem pura tua. In our home countries, we are saying tem pura tua with four pieces. Tem pura tua, tem pura tua. Most of the time in American English, we are not saying this with a clear pronunciation. I'm cutting this word into three pieces and it sounds like tem pura tua. Temperature. Temperature. What's the temperature this week? What's the temperature going to be? I also use this word to talk about the temperature of the body. So my daughter has a temperature. My daughter has a high temperature today. We also have a short form for this word, which is tem p. I often hear people use the short form tem p. What's the tem p going to be next week? My daughter has a temp. My daughter has a temp of 101. Our next word to look at today is on your screen right now. Often I will hear students pronounce this with four syllables. Come for tua bull. And this might be a way that you have heard people pronounce it before. Myself, my common American English pronunciation, I'm using three syllables here. And it's sounding like comfortable. Comfortable. Uncomfortable. Are you feeling comfortable? Are you feeling comfortable this afternoon? She looks uncomfortable. She looks uncomfortable. There's also a short form for comfortable, similar to temperature. And my short form is comfy. Most of the time you see I've written here young. Most of the time the word comfy is used by younger people, or to describe something in a more casual way, for example, a comfy pair of shoes, a comfy jacket, a comfy couch, or a comfy blanket. Actually I don't use it to ask somebody, are you feeling comfy? And I never use this short form negative. I never say uncomfy. It doesn't sound great to me. So comfortable. Comfy. Uncomfortable. Our next word on your screen. Next and I will hear students again using four syllables to pronounce this word. V-g-ha-bull. V-g-ha-bull. And this would be my beautiful clear pronunciation. However, myself, my common American English pronunciation, I cut this into three pieces, and I say vegetable. Vegetable. I can't decide which vegetable to plant. I can't decide which vegetable to plant. I really love vegetable soup. Actually I don't love vegetable soup. My husband loves vegetable soup. Myself. Not so much. There's also a short form for the word vegetable. And the short form is veggie. Actually more and more people are cutting it even further, and we see it cut down to just veg. Veg. But that form still feels very British, in my opinion. My short form of veggie is very common for people in the United States to say. Next word upon the screen. My long pronunciation. Into less thing. Again, four syllables. Into less thing. My poor, unclear, reduced American English pronunciation. I say interesting. Interesting. Wow, that's really interesting. What an interesting idea. Oh, he's such an interesting man. Interesting. You hear that? T-R. It makes this strange change in many poets of American English. Where T-R, you actually hear the sound of C-H-R. Tr-tr-tr-travel. Try. Trip. Interesting. Interesting doesn't have a short form. Sorry. Let's just look at one more today, because this video is getting a little bit long, and then we'll cut the second half into another video. My last one here on your screen. My long, beautiful pronunciation would be. Use you well-ly. Again, four pieces. Use you well-ly. However, my poor, my reduced American English pronunciation. Sounds more like, usually. How often do you usually ask for assistance? How often do you usually ask for assistance? And I added on the bottom here for us to talk about the two different words of use you well. Use you well-ly. Three pieces. Use you well-ly. Which is my adjective. Use you well-ly. Usually. Usually. My adverb. Right? Also, I could make this negative, and I could say on usual. On usual. He's an unusual man. He's an unusual man. I can't think of a good sentence to use unusually. I feel like I can make it, but I can't think of a good sentence to put it into. So these five words we talked about. Temperature. Comfortable. Vegetable. Interesting. Usually. Temperature. What's the temperature today? Well, are you comfortable listening to spoken English? Vegetable. What's your favorite vegetable? Interesting. What an interesting idea. Usually. Usually I practice English with my students. Let me know in the comments which one of these five is the most difficult for you, which one is the easiest for you. Or if you can think of another word that often is difficult for you to understand in pronunciation or in listening, let me know in the comments, and I could always add it into the next video. So remember to like and subscribe so that you get notifications when I'm putting up a new video, and we'll see you soon. Bye students.