In Episode 16 we toured the north and west. Now we travel east and south. The southern languages belong to a different language family (Dravidian), so their influence on English sounds noticeably different. This episode describes the tendencies you may hear, so you can decode them quickly and comfortably. What you will learn: • Reminder: tendencies, not rules, and never a label for a person • Bengali-influenced English: a B-like sound for V, rounded O vowels, S closer to SH • Odia-influenced English, briefly: SH closer to S • Assamese-influenced English, briefly: T and D without the heavy curled-back quality • Shared southern tendencies: a light final vowel, a light Y before E and W before O, held double consonants • The retroflex L and the R-like "zh" sound in southern names • Notes on Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam • Practice sentences, six listening strategies and self-check questions Level: B1–B2. Self-study: listen, then take the quizzes. Audio voiced with AI from an original script by Dr. Rashmi R Nair.