Many learners still read English letter by letter, as they would in their own language. So they say WED-nes-day for Wednesday and miss "whaddaya" when someone says it fast. Today we review the whole American accent in one place. In this episode: • Rhythm, stress and melody • Vowels, r and mouth posture • Consonants and key contrasts • Linking, reductions and squashed questions • Numbers, letters, tricky words and other accents • Practice • Self-check questions with answers Key phrases from this episode: CATS CHASE MICE — content words get the beats (Episode 92) PHO-tuh-graf, fuh-TAH-gruh-fee — stress moves inside a word family (Episode 93) REC-erd (noun), ri-CORD (verb) — nouns stress the first part, verbs the second I didn't SAY she took it — the focus word changes the meaning (Episode 94) Is dinner ready? — the voice rises for yes/no questions (Episode 95) Where's the remote? — the voice falls for wh- questions Can you pick me UP at five? — a phrasal verb stresses the particle (Episode 183) School PICKup is at three. Let's get TAKEout. — the noun stresses the first part ship / sheep, full / fool — short versus long vowels (Episode 97) can, back, family — the flat American A (Episode 98) cot and caught — the same sound for many Americans (Episode 98) bake, cold, light, towel, toys — gliding vowels that move (Episode 99) Uh, let me think. — the relaxed American hesitation sound button (BUH-uhn), mountain (MOWN-uhn) — stop T, the T is held (Episode 102) twenty (TWEN-ee), interview (IN-er-vyoo) — T dropped after N (Episode 103) Season 2 · Real American English: the complete spoken course for learners worldwide — accent, everyday grammar, prepositions, articles, phrasal verbs, idioms, slang and real conversations at home. Listen, repeat out loud, then take the 52-question quiz. Audio voiced with AI from an original script by Dr. Rashmi R Nair.