Real ESL

You want to sound like a real native English speaker, so you start using “hafta” instead of “have to” and “wanna” instead of “want to” and “gonna” instead of “going to”, but people look at you strangely. Why???

There are a few reasons.

1. You are overemphasizing (making it too strong when you talk) hafta, wanna or gonna. These words should be deemphasized (made weaker when you talk) because they are not information words. Make the main action verb or noun stronger in your sentence. We reduce (make them shorter, less important) them because they are not important words.

2. You are trying to speak too quickly. Slow down. It’s better to draw out (to slow down, to stretch out) your words. Don’t enunciate (make each sound very clear) or slow down for non-information words like “is”, “a”, “the”, “he”, “will” – all of these words are not information words. But many of our words are. For those ones, don’t rush it (don’t go too fast). If you trying to sound American (or Canadian to a lesser extent), you need to remember that we are lazy with our speech. We mumble more than British people. We slur our words (to make no movement with the mouth when talking so that the words are unclear – usually happens when people are drunk).

3. You are trying to sound like a rapper (singer who raps music, makes rap music, sings with a talking voice), but it’s the wrong situation. First of all, you are not a rapper. So, don’t try to be a rapper. Secondly, you’re probably in a classroom or at a party, trying to meet someone for the first time. In this situation, we speak more formally and use fewer reductions.

One big mistake – using hafta, gonna, wanna, gotta in writing! Don’t do it.

Check out the video!

Transcript and Vocabulary

Today we’re going to talk about hafta, wanna and gonna.

Now a lot of you guys – ooh – Here is an LA moment (something you only see in LA). Oh my gosh. It’s a car chase. Look. Check it out. Wooo. Okay it’s not a car chase. It just looked like one. This guy wasn’t pulling over (to move your car to the side of the road).

By the way, in America, you’ve got to (gotta!) pull over to the right. Don’t just stop there like an idiot. Pull over to the right and let the guy go by.

Okay, so, moving along now (great expression to use after you’ve been interrupted in a meeting/class/leadership situation because it can be funny but make the point that you want to return to what you were talking about)… I’m going to (gonna!) talk to you about hafta, wanna, gonna.

The big problem (mistake) that ESL learners make is that they overemphasize it.

I HAFTA go

Nobody does that. We say it really fast. And it’s minimized – the information word – Go – is strong.

I have to (hafta) go to the bank.

Do you see that? It’s really fast. That’s why it’s reduced (made shorter in speech). It’s not reduced to be cool or anything like that. We’re just speaking quickly and it makes it shorter, that’s all. So, if you can’t speak quickly, don’t do it.

And also, don’t just try to speak quickly and make your voice go – da,da,da,da,da,da. (no emphasis)

If you can’t speak quickly, don’t do it. Speak slowly. It’s no problem. Just enunciate your words and people will understand you just fine.

Now, I’m going to give you some examples. Right now, I really have to (hafta) get my hair cut. I’ll show you – a great place right there is Rudy’s Barbershop. They have a great one at the Standard Hotel if you’re in town and you need to get your hair cut.

I don’t want to get it cut (to ask a hairdresser to cut your hair) now because I’m with my one year old. And that’s not very fun. I like to go when I have no kids and I can just relax.

However, I am going to go (I spoke slower here, so I didn’t reduce!!) to Fred Segal, which is just down the street here.

All the fancy (really nice) kind of stores on Melrose are on the west part and the kind of funky, trendy, (newest fashions) some inexpensive (less money) ones are on the east side from Fairfax, or actually east from Crescent Heights, and west from Crescent Heights, you find the expensive ones.

You give it a try. (try it)

Remember you’re not a rap star, unless you are. And you don’t want to sound like one. Unless you’re singing a rap song.

Don’t worry if a lot of lyrics say ‘hafta, wanna, gonna’. That’s because it’s music. It’s like a poem. You don’t use poetry in the boardroom.