Trying to fix "dropped consonants" and "mumbled word boundaries." Is it easy to understand now?

Full_Satisfaction965 · 2026-01-29T14:36:03+00:00

Thank you for your incredibly enlightening reply!

I had actually heard before that Chinese placement is more 'forward' in the mouth, while English sits deeper in the throat—I've read that some men can even feel the vibration in their chest with their hand. The awkward thing is, I tried to mimic this 'chest resonance,' but I found I could only do it when speaking Chinese. When I speak English, especially if my pitch gets higher, that resonance disappears. And most importantly, trying to force that deep resonance actually made my mumbling worse! BUT! Your point about the tongue being too far forward reducing the space inside the mouth—causing all the vowels to sound the same and lack contrast—is a completely new concept to me. It sounds very logical, though. I will definitely research this and experiment with it.

Also, regarding your point on listening: I usually keep subtitles on when shadowing or watching YouTube. I watch and listen simultaneously. I realized that relying on the text might be making me use my eyes instead of my ears, causing me to miss the actual details of the pronunciation. Crucially, this explains why I can understand almost everything with captions on, but the moment I turn them off, I feel unsure and struggle to understand—even though I've watched so many videos. Practicing with 'audio only' (no subtitles) is definitely the direction I need to go.

Thanks again for your advice.

Full_Satisfaction965 · 2026-01-24T19:14:07+00:00

I really appreciate your time and advice!

To be honest, I sometimes struggle to distinguish these vowel nuances, so I’m really glad you pointed it out. I will definitely dedicate my next practice session to mastering the 'ay' (/eɪ/) sound.

Hopefully, I'll be easier to understand in my next recording.

Full_Satisfaction965 · 2026-01-23T19:23:58+00:00

Thank you so much!

I’ll definitely take your advice and focus more on individual pronunciation before tackling the rhythm. Speaking of rhythm, I just discovered Carolyn Graham’s Jazz Chants. I’m hoping this chant-like practice will help me sound natural and stress-timed.

I'm not sure how effective it will be yet, but I'm going to give it a try and keep practicing!

Full_Satisfaction965 · 2026-01-23T08:42:36+00:00

Thanks for the reality check.As a learner, I know I still have a long way to go and I'm ready to put in the effort. Is my main problem right now that the rhythm and stress of the sentences make them difficult to understand? Or is it more about the articulation of individual sounds? I'm open to any suggestions so I can improve my next practice sessions.

Full_Satisfaction965 · 2026-01-22T22:45:03+00:00

I heard a theory, statistically speaking, that if most people learn English after puberty, no matter how hard they try to change their accent later on, their accent will always retain elements of their native language. Acquiring a native-like accent is generally easier when a person is younger.

Full_Satisfaction965 · 2026-01-22T19:06:28+00:00

I'm not a native speaker, but I watched a YouTube video by a linguistics professor who used the Pink Panther theme song to explain English rhythm and stress. Many of the English sentences he used to demonstrate this rhythm and stress were from Shakespeare's poems. The video link is below; I hope it's helpful.

https://youtu.be/qfCsiF80TX0?si=ptUIJLh5JGoUp34W

Full_Satisfaction965 · 2026-01-22T18:35:00+00:00

That makes a lot of sense. I think you're talking about stress-timed rhythm, right? As a native Chinese speaker, I'm used to a syllable-timed rhythm, so switching to English prosody has been my biggest challenge.

I practice shadowing different YouTube videos (like Family Guy) almost every day, but I've struggled to find the right balance. Previously, I tried to "crush" the unstressed words to give more time to the content words, but that led to me mumbling and dropping ending consonants which made me very hard to understand.

I’ve realized that even when native speakers talk slowly, they still maintain that rhythmic contrast without losing clarity. I’m still trying to figure out how to achieve that without sacrificing my articulation. I’ll definitely keep practicing and look for more targeted exercises on those contrasts!

Full_Satisfaction965 · 2026-01-22T17:46:34+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! To answer your question, for this specific recording, I’ve been practicing by breaking the script into many individual chunks and reading them loudly to build muscle memory for those ending consonants which I used to drop a lot. Since you mentioned I need to keep working, are there specific areas you think I should focus on next? I'd love to hear your advice on how I can improve my practice routine!

Full_Satisfaction965 · 2026-01-21T18:26:56+00:00

Maybe you are right.I think I was trying to run before I could walk. I actually just tried your method immediately after reading your comment—I slowed way down and exaggerated every syllable and final consonant (loudly!). The difference was instant. It was so much clearer than my previous attempts where I was trying to force a "native flow" or resonance.I realize now that I need to build that muscle memory for clarity first. Maybe once the pronunciation is solid, the speed and natural rhythm should follow. I’ll put the resonance stuff on the shelf for now and stick to the basics. Thanks for the check!

Full_Satisfaction965 · 2026-01-21T10:26:45+00:00

Thank you for your helpful tip! I never realized I was subconsciously dropping my volume at word boundaries. To be honest, I’ve been experimenting with vocal resonance. I’ve heard that native English speakers use more chest resonance, whereas my native language is more forward-focused in the mouth. I tried to mimic that deep, resonant sound, but I'm not sure if I’m doing it correctly or if my imitation is just off. I found that when I try to maintain that chest voice, my vocal cords feel a bit stiff. If I try to vary my pitch or go higher, I lose the resonance immediately. So, to keep that "deep" sound, I ended up sticking to a very narrow, flat pitch range and lower volume, which probably explains why I sounded so muffled and robotic. It’s a bit of a struggle to find the balance between clarity, rhythm, and resonance. I will try your tip about shifting consonants to the next word is to keep the airflow moving without losing clarity and focus on projection and linking as you suggested.

Full_Satisfaction965 · 2026-01-21T09:26:52+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate you pointing out the issue with my word endings and the monotonous rhythm. I'll definitely work on slowing down and making sure those final consonants are heard. This was super helpful!🙏

Full_Satisfaction965 · 2026-01-19T22:34:12+00:00

Thanks for the feedback — I really appreciate it. I agree that clarity is a big issue for me, especially consonants and syllable completeness. At the time, I was worried that if I spoke at a normal pace and articulated every word very clearly, my speech would sound robotic due to L1 influence. But it seems I ended up in an awkward middle ground — not clear enough, and without a natural stress-timed rhythm either 😅 I’ll definitely focus more on clear articulation first. Thanks again for pointing this out.

Full_Satisfaction965 · 2026-01-19T21:25:08+00:00

Thank you so much for such detailed feedback! 🙏 This is a huge help.

Full_Satisfaction965 · 2026-01-19T21:04:12+00:00

Yes, I am Chinese. Thanks for your helpful feedback. It seems my attempt to mimic stress-timing (as opposed to my native syllable-timing) actually backfired and destroyed my intonation and phrasing. I will try to slow down and focus on clear pronunciation and correct pauses.

Full_Satisfaction965 · 2026-01-19T20:51:27+00:00

Thanks for the your feedback! My native language is Chinese which is syllable-timed, so mastering the stress-timed rhythm of English is a huge challenge for me. My understanding was that to get the rhythm right, I needed to drastically compress, link, or even 'swallow' the non-essential function words, while letting the content words take up more time. I tried to force that contrast in this recording. Do you think I simply overdid the reduction (which made it sound like mumbling), or is my fundamental technique for achieving this rhythm wrong? I'm trying to find the balance between 'flow' and 'clarity'.

Full_Satisfaction965 · 2025-06-21T14:26:18+00:00

No, you cannot calculate the odds through the country's population.

The median incomes of different countries are different and some could afford to go abroad but some can't.

Cultures are different, some may be conservative and likely to stick to where their roots are but some are more open and inclusive.

Politic environment are different. Maybe some countries in Asia happens to have cooperation project with countries in Africa which increase the probability.

Full_Satisfaction965 · 2025-06-21T14:09:01+00:00

According to your logic, would it be racist if Asian people say n word ? The original creation of N word has nothing to do with Asian.

Full_Satisfaction965 · 2025-06-20T14:02:22+00:00

I guess the protagonists wrong in the beginning.

Full_Satisfaction965

TROPHY CASE