The schwa sound - individual task

I decided to record the same recording we recorded with Dr. Černá in the beginning of the winter semester. I found interesting to compare the difference between the recording which was recorded 4 months ago and the recording I uploaded today. The main aim was to find all schwas in the text and pronounce every word and sentence correctly. I think there is a big difference between these two recordings. This time, I reduced most of the schwas which really made the pronunciation better. To be honest, 4 months ago I did not really know how to pronounce the schwa sound and that was the problem. Now, I did not say /kapbo:d/ but I said /kʌbəd/ in the word cupboard. I did not say /wud/ but I said /wəd/ as for the weak form of would. The same with could. I did not say /laibrery/ but /ˈlaɪbrəri/ in the word library. The thing is that I really tried to connect all the sentences and avoid saying for example /ænd/ instead of /ənd/, /tu:/ instead of /tə/ etc. concerning the weak forms of these words. As I listened to my recording again, maybe I was too interested in the schwa sound and I forgot to say th sound properly, but it was just in two words I think. I must learn how to concentrate on all the aspects of reading some text like this.

What gift will you give your boyfriend for his birthday?

Do you eat breakfast every day?

I chose questions concerning everyday life and I tried to give some good questions. I chose questions which seemed to be quite easy to me, I had many answers prepared in my head. But then, when I actually recorded them, I was a little lost sometimes. Actually, it was hard to say my every thought in 1.30 seconds, I usually talk better after some time, so that was the problem. I need to practise this, because I think I could have problems with time, for example at the exam. The first recording – I should have said milk is like my coffee, not milk is my coffee. Then, I was confused with the whole milk-coffee thing a I had a slip of the tongue, I said …with coffee I prefer some… and I thought …with milk I prefer some… And in the end, I just could not remember the word bacon or sausage… The second question – I said gifts like this and I should have said gifts like these, I did not realise it probably. Another problem was the pronunciation of the word motif – I said /ˈməʊtɪv/ and I should have said /məʊˈtiːf/ - with the stress on the second syllable. And in the end, I said I got it printed…and I should have probably said I give it printed or I could not find the proper phrase.