B2 Natural Speech: Coping with Fast-Paced, Natural Conversations
Welcome! In this lesson, we face the final challenge: coping with fast-paced2, natural conversations between native speakers3. The goal is not to understand every word, but to follow the conversation and get the main ideas.
1. Strategies for Coping with Fast Speech
When you hear fast speech, don't panic! Remember these strategies:
- Relax and Focus on Gist: Don't try to translate every word. Ask yourself: "What is the general topic?" Let the words you don't know fly past you.
- Listen for Stressed Words: Even in fast speech, native speakers stress the most important content words (nouns, main verbs, adjectives). Listen for these "islands of meaning."
- Use Context and Predict: Based on the situation and the keywords you do understand, what do you think they are probably talking about?
2. Practice Conversation: Making Weekend Plans
Let's practice. You will hear a short, fast conversation between two friends, Anna and Ben. They are making plans for the weekend. First, just listen to get the topic. Then, we will analyze the speech.
Anna: "Hey Ben, whatcha doin' this weekend?"
Ben: "Not much. I was gonna just relax at home. Whatchu got in mind4?"
Anna: "Well, I was thinkin' of checkin' out that new art market. D'ya wanna go?"
Ben: "Oh, yeah, I heard about that. What time were ya thinkin' of goin'?"
Anna: "I dunno. Maybe 'round ten-thirty? We could get some coffee first."
Ben: "Sounds like a plan. I'm in."
3. Analyzing the Connected Speech
That was fast! Let's look at some of the connected speech that made it fast.
| Written Form | Natural Sound ("Sounds Like") | Feature |
|---|---|---|
| What are you | "whatcha" | Reduction |
| going to | "gonna" | Reduction |
| Do you want to | "D'ya wanna" | Reduction & Linking |
| I don't know | "I dunno" | Elision & Reduction |
| thinking of / checking out | "thinkin' of / checkin' out" | Elision (dropping final 'g') |
4. Listening for Detail
Now, listen to the same fast conversation again. Knowing about the connected speech, can you answer these detail questions?
- What does Anna want to do this weekend?
- What was Ben's original plan?
- What time do they plan to go?
- What will they do first?
Click to Show Answers
Answers: 1. Go to the new art market. 2. Relax at home. 3. Around 10:30. 4. Get some coffee.
Final Challenge: A Fast Dialogue
Listen to this fast dialogue between a tourist and a hotel receptionist. Then answer the detail questions.
Dialogue: (Listen to the audio)
- What does the tourist want?
- How long does it take to walk there?
- What are the two main directions?
Click to Show Answers
Answers: 1. Directions to the museum. 2. About ten minutes. 3. Go out of the hotel and turn left.
Homework Task
1. Real-World Eavesdropping: Go to a cafe popular with foreigners in Siem Reap. Order a coffee. Don't stare, but try to listen to a conversation near you for one minute. Don't try to understand everything. Just see if you can pick out the topic and a few keywords. This is excellent, real-world practice.
2. Podcast Challenge: Find a podcast with two or more hosts having a natural conversation (not reading a script). Try to listen for 2-3 minutes. What is their topic? Can you follow the conversation even if you miss many words?
Vocabulary Glossary
- To Cope With (verb phrase) - Khmer: ទប់ទល់ជាមួយ - To deal effectively with something that is difficult. ↩
- Fast-paced (adjective) - Khmer: លឿន - Happening very quickly. ↩
- Native Speaker (noun) - Khmer: អ្នកនិយាយភាសាដើមកំណើត - Someone who has spoken a particular language since they were a baby, not as a foreign language. ↩
- To have in mind (phrase) - Khmer: មាននៅក្នុងចិត្ត - To have a plan, idea, or intention. ↩