Linking Sounds

Native English speakers link words together by connecting sounds. The more words you manage to group together the more natural your English will sound and the harder it will be for people to detect your mother tongue. When a word ends in a consonant sound and is followed by a word beginning with a vowel sound, the consonant moves to the beginning of the second word. If we have two similar sounding consonants we pronounce them as a single consonant. Adjacent vowel sounds are joined with a 'y', as in 'I am', or a 'w', as in 'you are'. Recognizing these linked words will help you understand native speakers more easily. And, conversely, if you link words when you talk, native speakers will understand you better. Finally, dividing whole sentences into phrases or thought groups will make it easier to understand those who we repeatedly accuse of speaking too fast.