(Video Transcript)
Learn English with TV: The White Lotus
Get ready to be thoroughly entertained while improving your English conversational skills at the same time, as I analyze a scene from the popular American TV show White Lotus. I’ll teach you the intonation, the reductions, the linking, and the pronunciation that the characters use in this scene, and then you’ll have the chance to practice everything you’ll learn. So stick around - get ready to learn English with White Lotus!
How many of you have seen this show, White Lotus? In the US, you can stream this series on HBO Max and other streaming platforms, but I’m not sure if it’s available in all countries worldwide. But if you live in a country that has access to this show, I would highly recommend that you watch it! But I need to warn you: it’s a little dark, I would say. It’s a dark, satirical, comedy-drama, and the characters are deeply flawed. They do bad things, and bad things happen to people in this show. It’s not your typical, feel good and laugh type of show, like Friends or Seinfeld. So…you’ve been warned - this show can be hard to watch for some people. But I love this show, I’ve seen two seasons of it and I’m excited for season three.
The scene that I’ll analyze in today’s video comes from Season two, episode one. It doesn’t contain any spoilers, nor does it contain any bad events - so this scene is appropriate for anyone to watch.
In this scene, two characters named Harper and Ethan are at a restaurant with friends, and they’re discussing what to order for dinner. They’re married, and there is some tension between them, which the viewers learn more about as the season progresses. So you can sense that something is wrong with their relationship, but you don’t know enough about the characters yet to know for sure what’s going on.
I’ll analyze just four sentences from this scene, and I’ll teach you the details about the pronunciation, the intonation, the reductions, and the linking that I hear. I think this show, and especially this scene, is a great example of really natural pronunciation - the type of pronunciation and speech that native speakers use every day with friends and family - and I know that’s exactly what you’re looking for. So let’s jump right into the analysis.
Helpful Links
To read the transcript, head over to YouTube and click the "captions" button: https://youtu.be/sdFlhCHg44s?si=ApBs4YqOCUx0pzkF
English Pro Lite: https://courses.sandiegovoiceandaccent.com/courses/english-pro-lite
English Pro (the fully comprehensive English training program): https://sandiegovoiceandaccent.com/english-pro
