Why can't I Understand You? - Reduced Speech in Spoken American English

Several of my ConfidentVoice students have told me that they have trouble understanding the spoken English of native speakers.

This is not at all unusual, and in this lesson I’ll explain why many students of English have this problem.  

One reason that native American English speakers are difficult to understand is because they often use reduced speech forms when speaking in informal situations. When native speakers use reduced speech forms the words seem to run together and this can make it very difficult to understand what they are saying.

In this lesson, I will give you a list of phrases that American English speakers commonly reduce in informal or rapid speech. You do not necessarily need to learn to pronounce these reduced phrases, however it is critical that you are aware of them because native speakers use them all the time!

Listening Activity

Look at the table below.

In the first column are some common verb phrases written as American English speakers say them in formal situations. I will refer to these as formal speech.

In the second column are the same phrases as American English speakers say them in informal situations. I will refer to these as reduced speech.

 
Click play below to listen and repeat each pair of phrases:

Mini Lesson: Dialogs with Reduced Speech 

In this week’s mini-lesson we will use some of the reduced phrases introduced above in two short dialogs for you to listen and pronounce.

Dialog 1

A. Whaddaya want to eat for lunch?

B. I dunno, whadda you want to eat?

A. I wanna have Chinese food.

B. You shoulda told me, I coulda bought some on my way over.

Click below to listen and repeat:

Dialog 2

A. Whaddaya wanna do today?

B. I hafta clean the house or my mom’s gonna be mad.

A. Is your sister gonna help too?

B. No, my sister can’t help. She hasta work today.

Click below to listen and repeat

For more information and practice with reduced phrases I recommend the book "Whaddaya Say?" by American English pronunciation author Nina Weinstein. Nina is featured in this week’s Learning Resource below.

Insight: American English Idioms

An idiom is a unique expression in which the meaning cannot necessarily be understood from the literal definitions of the words.

I’ve chosen two of my favorite money idioms to share with you.

 The first idiom is: Bring home the bacon.

In American English a person who brings home the bacon is the person who earns the money for the family to live on. For example, if my father works hard to support my family I might say “ My father has to go to work everyday so he can bring home the bacon”.

 The second idiom is: Nest egg.

In American English the money you have saved for the future is called a nest egg. For example, if my friend has been saving lots money for her old age I might say, “Laurie has a nice nest egg in the bank”.

Listening Activity

Click below to listen and say these sentences containing idioms.

1. Laurie’s mother stays home and her father brings home the bacon.

2. Edward has been saving money for a long time so he has a nice nest egg.

Featured Learning Resource: Voice of America Idioms

In this Special English broadcast, Nina Weinstein, the author of the popular book about reduced speech called "Whaddya Say?", explains the use of reduced forms in spoken English and why it is important for you to understand these.   Click on the image to go to the site now.