Flawless Carryout! (a FREE English Conversation Training Lesson)

Let's analyze real conversation  to find out what makes American  

English sound American and how you can  improve your listening comprehension. 

In this video, I'm calling in an order for  dinner. isn't it so hard speaking a foreign  

language on the phone? At the end I'll even  put in an imitation training section so you can  

work on mastering the American accent. First,  here's the whole conversation we'll analyze. 

What are you getting? I'm getting a bean and rice  

burrito. Do you want to just split it with me?  I feel like when we do that and we get guac.. 

Alright, I'm going to call.

Hi, I’d like to place an order for pickup. 

I'll have one bean and rice burrito, one  chicken tacos, one sweet potato tacos,  

one pork burrito, and pico, guac,and  chips. Oh, and one side of beans and rice. 

Nope that's all.

It's Rachel. 

Awesome, thank you so much. Alright byebye. 

Ten minutes. Should be perfect, perfect timing.

Hi, I'm picking up an order for Rachel. 

Now, let's do the analysis.

What are you getting? 

The word what, stressed. What are you getting?  He's making it go up in pitch at the end. 

What are you getting?

The word what we have a flap  

T linking it into the next word that begins the  vowel, and we're reducing the next word to just  

schw R. What are, what are, what are you getting? Flap T here as well. A single flap T. The  

double letter T makes a single flap T.  Getting, getting, what are you getting? 

What are you getting?

A bean and rice burrito.  

Do you want to just split it with me?

So I say “I'm getting a bean and rice  

burrito.” And then I keep going. I don't make  a stop here but we're going to break it up into  

two little parts here as we discussed. What's  the most stressed syllables? What are the most  

stressed syllables that you're hearing here?

I'm Rachel and I've been teaching the American  

accent on YouTube for over 15 years. Go to  Rachelsenglish.com/free to get my free course:  

The Top Three Ways to Master the American Accent.

I'm getting a bean and rice burrito. 

I'm getting a bean and rice burrito. Bean and  rice burrito. I'm getting a, I'm getting a I'm  

getting a. These are a little bit less stressed,  set a little bit more quickly. I'm getting a, I'm  

getting a. Flap T again in getting. I'm getting  a bean and rice. Bean and rice. And is reduced,  

schwa n, bean and, bean and, bean and rice.

bean and rice burrito. 

Burrito, burrito, burrito, burrito. Said pretty  unclear, the stress syllable is a little bit  

longer, but I'm saying this word very quickly  aren't I? Burrito, burrito, burrito, burrito,  

burrito. It's almost like I'm dropping the vowel  here. Burrito, I'm just saying bri, bri, bri,  

it's like a br cluster. Burrito. Two syllables. Bri-to. That's how unclear I'm being. Burrito,  

burrito. And we have a flap T there, burrito.

Burrito. 

When I lived in the Dominican Republic I  hated talking on the phone in Spanish. It  

was so hard. How do you feel about talking on  the phone in English? On a scale of 1 to 10,  

1 being you hate it and 10 being it's not a  problem for you at all. Let me know in the  

comments what number you are. I love reading them.

Burrito. Do you want to just split it with me? 

Do you want to just split it with me? Split it  with me? So my pitch goes up at the end there,  

the first five words said very quickly. Do you  want to becomes do you wanna, do you wanna,  

do you wanna, do you wanna, really fast.  Do is reduced, you is reduced, do you,  

do you, do you, do you, do you. Want to becomes  wanna. Do you wanna, do you wanna, do you wanna,  

do you wanna, just split it with me?

Do you want to just split it with me? 

The word ‘just’ has a dropped T. We do that  usually when the next word begins with a  

consonant and here it does. So just a single  S sound, just split, just split, just split. 

just split— just split it with me? 

Split it with me? Split it, flap T connecting  those two words, split it with. Then a stop T,  

split it with me? Split it with me?

split it with me— 

Yeah, that sounds good.

Yeah, that sounds good. Yeah, that sounds good. 

Yeah, that sounds good.

That sounds good. His pitch goes up a little bit  

at the end. That sounds good, that sounds good. I  don't know why we do that but we do that with this  

phrase a lot. That sounds good. Good, good, good.  Sounds is the most stressed there. That sounds.  

That with a stop T, but I don't reduce the vowel.  He doesn't reduce the vowel. That sounds good. 

Yeah, that sounds good.

Okay. 

Okay. Okay, okay, okay, okay. I'm  not fully engaging my voice there.  

I'm not really saying okay. It's more  like schwa. Okay, okay, okay, okay. 

Okay.

Alright, I'm going to call him. 

One thought group, said really quickly.  Alright, alright, alright. I say this word  

without an L sound. Alright, alright, alright,  alright, alright. You could think of that as  

being the ah vowel or the ah as in Father  vowel. Alright, alright, alright, alright. 

Alright,

Then actually I make that a flap T at the end.  

Alright I'm, alright I'm. Because I link it right  into the next word, which begins with a vowel.  

Alright I'm, alright I'm, alright I'm, alright  I'm. Alright, I'm going to call them. I'm gonna,  

I'm gonna, I'm gonna. These words said  flat, low in pitch, very quickly. I'm gonna,  

reducing going to to gonna. I'm gonna, I'm  gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna.

Alright, I'm gonna— 

call them. Then call has stress, up down shape,  

call them. And the word them is reduced.  I'll write it over here. It's just schwa em,  

call ‘em. Call em, call em, call em. That's  a common reduction with them to drop the th,  

and then link the reduction of the word onto the  word before. Call them, call them, call them. 

call them.

So, now here I am going  

to call the taco shop and I'm going to speak with  them on the phone. I'm not going to go over the  

pronunciation of what he's saying to me because  it's pretty unclear but I will make sure you know  

what he's saying so that if you're ever calling  in you know what kind of phrases to expect. 

So he starts when he answers the phone by just  saying the name of the business. Honest Tom’s,  

Honest Tom’s. And by making the pitch go up at  the end, that's putting it in a questioning tone  

which is like saying ‘how can I help you?’  He doesn't say that but it's implied by the  

tone. Honest Tom’s.

Honest Tom’s. 

Hi, I'd like to place an order for pickup.

Hi. Hi. Up down shape, Hi, I'd like to place  

an order for pickup. And I make my intonation  go up a little bit at the end. It's just like  

asking have you understood what I've just said.  I find that I do this on the phone sometimes,  

I make my pitch go up as a question  rather than go down as a statement  

as a way of acknowledging that the person may  not have heard you. You know, sometimes on the  

phone a little bit of communication is lost.

Hi, I'd like to place an order for pickup. 

I'd like. Like is a little bit longer, the  D sound here subtle, it's not released.  

I'd like to place. I'm doing a true T and  then a schwa reduction. I'd like to place. 

I'd like to place an--

I'd like to. This is something that we say,  

a lot when we're being helped. For example,  if you're at the grocery store and you're  

ordering something from the deli you could say,  I'd like, I'd like to have or I'd like to order  

or you could just say I'd like, I'd like a half  pound of chicken or something like that. I'd like,  

I would like. It's a polite way to ask for  something. And here I'm saying I'd like to  

place an order for pickup. So that means I want  to tell them what I want and then I'm going to  

go get it there. Pickup. it's the same thing as  carry out. I could have said I'd like to place  

an order for carry out but I said pickup.

I'd like to place an order for pickup. 

And it's a, the volume cuts out a little bit  because of the car jiggling, but there is a for  

reduction here, order for, order for pickup. And  the ending K sound links right into the uh vowel,  

cup, cup, cup, pickup, pickup.

order for pickup. 

And notice I put my lips together for the P  and then I don't release them. By the time  

my lips relax, I'm done speaking. So it's  a stop consonant and I do not finish it. 

pick up.  

I'll have—

He says, ‘Yeah, what can I get for you?’ So  he has acknowledged that I'm going to start  

an order and now he's ready to hear what I  want. So, I start that by saying I’ll have. 

I'll have—

And notice that I will sounds like all, all, I’ll  

have, I’ll have, and now I start to list what I  want. Pay attention to the internation of my list. 

I'll have one bean and rice  burrito, one chicken tacos, 

One bean and rice burrito, burrito, one  chicken tacos. As I make my list here,  

it's a definitive list. I know exactly what  I want and I make my pitch go up on each item  

until I get to the end when my pitch will go  down. And by making my pitch go up, this is  

a signal to him that I am not done listing what I  want, I'm not done placing my order. So we use up  

intonation in lists and it's a way to communicate  to the other person that we're not done until we  

get to the end then the pitch goes down. And  then that indicates to the listener I'm done,  

that's the end of my list. How do I pronounce ‘one’?  

It's definitely stressed, more clear.

I'll have one bean and rice burrito, 

One bean and rice burrito. One bean rice  burrito. These are all stressed and the  

and is definitely reduced. So even on the phone,  you're going to do reductions to be clear. Bean  

and rice. That is something this guy probably  hears a 100 times a day. Bean and rice. So by  

using that expected intonation, that expected  reduction, I'm being more clear. Bean and rice  

burrito. Flap T in burrito. By the way, if you're  watching this and you haven't watched this uh,  

real life exercise goes with another real life  exercise where David and I are discussing what  

to order. And that lesson is just before  this lesson in the conversations course. 

One bean and rice burrito,

One chicken tacos, 

One chicken tacos. And my intonation goes up at  the end. Now something interesting is happening  

here. Actually I stress that to one chicken tacos.  I'm trying to be really clear because I'm on the  

phone. But I have the word one and then I have a  plural here. What's up with that? It's because I  

want an order of chicken to tacos and there's two  in each order. I should have said one order of. I  

didn't, I thought by saying one chicken tacos that  was going to be clear. I did the same thing here,  

one sweet potato tacos. I meant order of, and you  know what he did, he gave me one of each taco and  

so that was not very clear. I should have been  more clear. We were very disappointed when we  

opened them up at our friend's house and we  found that we only had one chicken taco and  

one sweet potato taco. I thought by putting the  plural on the end I was being clear but I was not  

being clear enough on the phone. So I should have  said one order of but that's why you're seeing one  

with the plural because there are two in each  order. One sweet potato tacos, pitch goes up  

at the end. So I'm still going with my list.

One chicken tacos, one sweet potato tacos, 

One sweet potato tacos. Sweet potato, stop T sweet  potato, potato. Okay, in case you haven't noticed,  

we have two T here. One's a a true T, the first  one, and the second one is a flap. Why? They  

both come between two vowels. Well that's because  the stress is here. Potato. The middle syllable  

is stressed and a true, whenever a T starts a  syllable, it's always a true T. Sorry, whenever  

a t starts a stressed syllable, it's always a true  T. So here, the T starts an unstressed syllable  

and I make it a flap. But here it starts a sressed  syllable, and so I make it a true T. Potato,  

potato, potato, sweet potato tacos. One sweet potato tacos, 

One pork burrito,  

One pork burrito. All stressed. One pork burrito, 

my pitch goes up. That means I'm not done  ordering, I still have more things. Flap T,  

one pork burrito.

One pork burrito, 

and pico, guac and chips.

And pico guac and chips. So, in this little  

thought group, in this little phrase, we have the  word and twice. Let's compare the pronunciations. 

and pico, guac and chips.

The first time I fully pronounce it, I even  

say the D. That's a little uncommon, I'm doing  that because I'm on the phone and I'm trying to  

be really clear. But then, for this and, I'm not  clear at all. I reduce it to ən. Why do I do that?  

Because these three things go together, they're  one order, one package. And so it's natural  

when you're listing things that go together, to  reduce that. So that's why that one got reduced,  

even though I'm on the phone, even though I'm  trying to be clear. And pico, guac and chips. It's  

like those four words together make up one thing.  Pico, guac, and chips. And pico, guac and chips.  

All stressed, being clear with all of those main  objects that Define that unit that package. And  

my pitch goes down at the end, because I'm done  with my list until I remember I forgot something. 

and pico, guac and chips.

Oh, and one side of beans and rice. 

So I have to add it. Oh, and one side of beans  and rice. Beans and rice, these two things make  

up one thing, one side of beans and rice. They go  together. So again, I reduce and to ən, ən, ən. 

Oh, and one side of beans and rice.

Oh and one. So, here I don't reduce and, I say the  

D. He needs to make sure that I forgot something  and I'm telling him another item I went to order.  

But then here, when it's part of a unit, when it's  part of two things that go together, I reduce and. 

Oh, and one side of beans and rice.

Oh, and one side of beans and rice.  

One and side both clear, beans rice  both clear, and and of both less clear. 

Oh, and one side of beans and rice.

Of, of, of beans and rice. 

of beans and rice.

He says ‘okay.’ He's got it all. Anything else? 

Okay. Anything else?

Nope, that's all. 

I say the two nope and that's these two words  together, I don't release my T, nope, that's all,  

but I link them together, I say them quickly so  I don't release that. Nope, that's all. Nope,  

nope, nope. I bring my lips together for the  P and I don't release I go right into the th.  

Nope, that's all.

Nope, that's all. 

They all have a little bit of a  curve to them. Nope that's all. 

Nope, that's all.

It's Rachel. 

Then he asks for my name to put with the  order. I say ‘It's Rachel.’ It's lower,  

clear less stressed, it's Rachel. And then I make  sure my name is stressed and clear with that up  

down shape. It's Rachel. It's Rachel.

It's Rachel. 

Awesome. Thank you so much. So then he tells me how long I have to wait and  

I say ‘Awesome.’ Awesome. Up down shape. Awesome.

Awesome. 

Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank and much,  

the most stress there, you and so, a little  flatter. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. 

Thank you so much. Alright, bye-bye. 

And then he says something back to  me like ‘thanks.’ Acknowledging that  

we're done talking, we've figured  everything out so I say ‘Alright, bye-bye.’ 

Alight, bye-bye.

Alright, bye-bye. Alright, alright.  

Just like before, alright, I don't really say an L  sound. Alright, alright. Stop T. Alright, bye-bye. 

Alright, bye-bye.

So when we say bye-bye,  

we usually reduce the first word. bə, bye-bye. And  then the second word is fully pronounced with the  

I diphthong. Bye-bye, bye-bye.

bye-bye. 

Ten minutes.

Then I'm talking to David. Ten minutes.  

Ten minutes. Stressing ten, ten minutes.

Ten minutes. 

Minutes is pronounced with schwa here, which  you know what, I would write it either as  

a schwa or as an ə vowel. Minutes. Minutes,  minutes, minutes, minutes, minutes. Said very,  

very quickly, and then the TS cluster. Minutes,  minutes, minutes, minutes. Ten minutes. 

Ten minutes.

Should be perfect. 

So, I don't make the D sound here. L is always  silent in this word. It's not uncommon to drop  

D in the word should when we're linking into  another word. Should be, should be. I should  

say another word that begins with a consonant. So  this is just shu. The SH sound and the schwa sh,  

should be, should be perfect.

Should be perfect. 

Perfect. And I do make both sounds at the end.  K and T if I was linking into another word that  

began with a consonant, then I might drop the T.  But this is the end of my thought group so I fully  

pronounce that ending cluster.

Perfect. 

Perfect timing.

Perfect timing. So the next time I say it,  

perfect timing, I connect with just one true T  sound. So you can think of the T being dropped  

here and then making a true T to begin. Perfect  timing, perfect timing. So the tongue goes up in  

the back to touch the soft palate to make the  K sound but you don't release that. Perfect.  

You just leave it there to stop the air and then  you make the T. Perfect timing, perfect timing. 

Perfect timing.

Time is the most stressed syllable there. So,  

the syllables in front of it lead up to that, and  the syllable after that falls down from that peak  

of pitch. Perfect timing.

Perfect timing. 

Hi, I'm picking up an order for Rachel.

And then I left this part in just so you  

would get a feel for what to say when you walk  into the restaurant. So I say ‘Hi’. Up down shape,  

always like to be friendly and give a greeting  before I start saying my purpose. So I do  

my greeting and then I say my purpose.

Hi, I'm picking up an order for Rachel. 

I'm picking up an order for Rachel. So pick  and my name are the most stressed words there,  

the most important things to convey. What am I  doing? I'm picking something up. I'm not placing  

an order to stay there and eat. I've already  placed the order and it's under the name Rachel.  

I'm picking up an order for Rachel.

I'm picking up an order for Rachel. 

Picking up an order. A little bit of  stress there. Picking up an. Linking  

ending consonants to beginning vowels and then  I do reduce for. Picking up an order for Rachel. 

Picking up an order for Rachel.

And I make my pitch go up at the end. For Rachel 

I wouldn't have to, I could make it as a  statement. I'm picking up an order for Rachel. But  

by making my pitch go up at the end, it's just a  way of saying do you acknowledge, do you hear, do  

you understand. It's just it's a little bit less  commanding, demanding. I'm picking up an order for  

Rachel versus I'm picking up an order for Rachel.  Since it's only the second thing I've said to her,  

I'm making my pitch go up at the end, is just a  little bit more soft. It's like saying, ‘could you  

do this for me?’ ‘Could you get my order for me?’

Hi, I'm picking up an order for Rachel. 

So that is placing an order over the phone  and picking it up. Let's listen to the whole  

conversation one more time.

What are you getting? 

I'm getting a bean and rice burrito. Do you want to just split it with me? 

Yeah, that sounds good. Okay. Alright, I'm going to call them. 

Honest Tom’s. Hi, I'd like to place an order for pickup. 

Yeah, I'll have one bean and rice burrito,  one chicken tacos, one sweet potato tacos,  

one pork burrito, and pico, guac and  chips. Oh, and one side of beans and rice. 

Nope, that's all.  

It’s Rachel.

Awesome. Thank you so much. Alright, bye-bye. Ten minutes. 

Should be perfect. perfect timing.

Hi, I'm picking up an order for Rachel. 

In this training section, you'll hear each  sentence fragment twice in slow motion,  

then three times at regular pace. Each time,  there will be a pause for you to speak out loud.  

Imitate exactly what you hear. Do this training  twice a day, every day this week and see how the  

conversation flows at the end of the week.

What are you getting? 

I'm getting a bean and rice burrito.

Do you want to just split it with me? 

Yeah, that sounds good.

Okay. Alright, I'm going to call them. 

Hi, I'd like to place an order for pick up.

I'll have one bean and rice burrito, 

one chicken tacos,

one sweet potato tacos, 

one pork burrito,

and pico, guac and chips.

Oh, and one side of beans and rice. 

No, that's all.

It's Rachel. 

Awesome. Thank you so much.

Alright, bye-bye. 

Ten minutes. Should be perfect. 

Perfect timing.

Hi, I'm picking up an order for Rachel. 

I hope you've enjoyed this video, I  absolutely love teaching about the  

stress and music of spoken American English.  Keep your learning going now with this video  

and don't forget to subscribe with  notifications on, I absolutely love  

being your English teacher. That's it and  thanks so much for using Rachel's English.