美国人喜欢把事物简化，甚至连他们的发音也很轻松自在，不是重音的发音或是音节，通常会被缩短或是和其它的音相连。因此，「What do you want to do?」就变成了「Whaddaya wanna do?」而「I don't know.」听起来像「I dunno.」看看你能不能听懂以下的对话：

吉妮: Jeet yet?
提姆: No, ju?
吉妮: Skoeet!

现在，我们来把它翻译成一般的英文：
吉妮: Did you eat yet? （你吃过了没？）
提姆: No, did you? （还没有，你呢？）
吉妮: Let's go eat! （一块儿去吃吧！）

学校的老师们对这样的发音恐怕是不敢恭维。不过事实上，通常美国人在实际的生活中都是这么说话的.

There's one type of informal language that you should avoid using, however. Swearwords offend many people in America. Sometimes people say "four-letter words" to express anger or pain. Many of these "curse words" are terms from the Bible that people have misused. For example, to damn means to punish forever in Hell, so "damn" and "hell" are strong curses. Using the names of God or Jesus without respect can also bother people. And one more thing: stay away from "dirty words"-vulgar descriptions of sex or the human body. True, some people talk like this, but such "gutter language" should stay in the gutter.

然而有一种非正式的语言是你应当避免使用的。在美国咒诅骂人的话是会得罪人的。有时候人们会说「四字经」来表达愤怒和痛楚。很多这类咒诅的字眼是取自圣经，但是被人误用的。例如，「Damn」该死！指的是诅咒人在地狱里受永远的刑罚，所以「Damn」和「Hell」都是很强烈的诅咒。而毫不尊重地妄用上帝或耶稣的名字也会使人很不舒服。还有一件事：绝对不要讲「脏话」--对性或是人体低俗的描述。没错，确实有人是那么说话的，不过这种属于阴沟的「脏话」就让它归于阴沟吧。

Americans enjoy being informal. They like making themselves comfortable, whether it's wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt or using informal language. So if you want to speak real American-style English, just go casual-especially if your English teacher isn't looking.

美国人非常喜爱非正式、轻松的感觉。不论是藉由穿牛仔裤、T恤还是使用通俗的语言，他们都喜欢让自己轻松自在。所以如果你想说真正的美式英语，尽量随意就是了，尤其是你的英文老师没看着你的时候。