For example:"That was the stupidest thing you could've done"
those bold transitions make me struggle when trying to say the sentence at the normal pace of a native person or even a fluent person.
How can I solve that problem ?
Thank you so much :)
Ahmed, your question interested me because I have felt frustrated when some of my Spanish teachers try to ¨help¨ me learn to speak my target language ¨at a more natural pace.¨ I have felt pressure from some of my teachers to try to make me read faster than I feel I can do at this point. They do not usually pressure me to speak faster when I am not reading. Like you say, it is not a problem of vocabulary or expressions. To me it feels like I do not yet have the efficient tongue movement and breathing patterns of the language and can not physically make my mouth do all the correct sounds at the pace that is natural for them. It feels to me that my pace, at this level, has to be slower. I decided to post my own question on the Spanish forum related to this (https://www.italki.com/discussion/130822) but I would also appreciate your opinion since it seems you feel a similar frustration with English learning, although I am not sure if your frustration is only internal or if you also feel pressured by others.
My idea that I am starting to try to improve this skill myself is to try more to read out loud by myself (to develop my motor performance skills in speaking while I do not feel performance anxiety with anyone else.) I also found a good Spanish site today where I can use a technique called Shadowing. Here is a video on the technique for English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVWFGIyNswI However, I find it rather amusing HOW SLOWLY this teacher speaks in the early part of the video while he explains the technique.
Watch and follow this tutor "Ihab Ramzy" , I learned a lot from him . I had the same problem ,but I became better
Hope u like it
and good luck
Isolate the sounds z + th in the 'was the...' and the ss + th (fast, emotional speech; open anger) like Hayley suggested above and st + th (careful speech; sarcasm; hidden anger) in the 'stupidest thing..."
Try pronouncing zth (voiced) in one breath. Here are some nonsensical words that will help you pronounce zth without pausing:
zthay (stay); Zthy (sty); zthab (stab)
Then move on to linking the words was and the together: wasthe /wəzðə/ [Note: Do not replace the voiced TH sound with the D sound]
For the ssth (unvoiced) sound, just treat the s sound as a long s (the extra s replaces the final t in stupidest) then move on to the unvoiced th: stupidessthing /styoopədəssӨing/ [Note: Do not replace the unvoiced TH sound with the T sound]
I think you already know how to pronounce the st + th combination but remember that the final t sound is imploded and that they cannot be linked.
Finally, Hayley's advice is sound, tongue twisters will definitely train your tongue to move faster. Also, I recommend Rachel's English's 'How to link the TH sound' video.
Also, if you are not already familiar with it, rachelsenglish.com has particularly good videos on pronunciation. They also have accurate subtitles in English. Here are some links to some of her free videos that I think would be especially helpful:
Her videos related to linking words- http://rachelsenglish.com/videos/intonation-linking-stress/linking/
http://rachelsenglish.com/videos/intonation-linking-stress/in-a-sentence/
http://rachelsenglish.com/videos/intonation-linking-stress/words-that-reduce/
her basic videos with exercises- http://rachelsenglish.com/videos/the-voice/basics/
