English Listening Practice video

[Maybo]

I'm practising listening. Is the speakers' pronunciation natural in the above video?

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm practising listening to English. Is Are the speakers' pronunciations natural in the above video?

They sound like native American English speakers to me. It's a little difficult to comment on how natural it is because the sentences have clearly been recorded with very clear enunciation. That makes sense as it's designed to help learners practise.

 

[jutfrank]

The male voice sounds like AI to me. I think the female voice probably is too.

 

[teechar]

I saw this caption in the video:
"The voice is played back twice with a local speed".
To me, that's not very natural.
Also, for "I found it", the man says "I founded". At least, that's what I hear.

 

[Ostap]

The male voice sounds like AI to me. I think the female voice probably is too.

Why? To me, they sound very "human". I clicked randomly on the timeline, and got into this sentence: They made up their minds to go by car in spite of bad weather. The female made a mistake while reading, saying "by a car". In another sentence with "by car", she says it differently. Also, she is using a glottal stop in words like "what we", "what went".
Not something AI would do. And the man's intonations are too lively and vigorous for AI.

Also, for "I found it", the man says "I founded". At least, that's what I hear.

"Founded" sounds a little softer -- not like, but, closer to "foundeed", than "found it" does. So to me, they sound rather very much like "found it".

 

[teechar]

"Founded" sounds a little softer -- not like, but, closer to "foundeed", than "found it" does. So to me, they sound rather very much like "found it".

I don't understand what you're saying.

 

[Ostap]

I don't understand what you're saying.

I meant his "found it" sounds like in "pundit". "Founded" sounds a little differently.

 

[5jj]

It sounds like founded to me.

 

[Ostap]

It sounds like founded to me.

The vowel "i" doesn't sound like it should?

 

[5jj]

Is there something unclear in my words? -

It sounds like founded to me.

 

[Ostap]

Is there something unclear in my words? -

Yes, otherwise I wouldn't ask. Is there something unclear in my question?

"Founded" and "found it" sound very similar on their own. So I asked what exactly part sounds differnt.

 

[5jj]

"Founded" and "found it" sound very similar on their own. So I asked what exactly part sounds different.

You didn't.

"Founded" and "found it" sound very similar on their own.

The difference is in the final consonant.

 

[Ostap]

You didn't.

That was a leading question with the same effect.

The difference is in the final consonant.

I see. It may be perceived as "d", but he uttered a "stop t", not a "full t" as she did. It's vague. Overall, he sounds native-speaker-human to me.

 

[5jj]

I heard a final /d/ in his version, a /t/ in hers.