Todos os episódios

A jornada de MacNeil começa em Maine e vai para Detroit após paradas em Boston, Nova York, Filadélfia, Pittsburgh, Ohio e Carolina do Sul. Ao longo do caminho, ele encontra pescadores de lagostas, com seus inconfundíveis sotaque da Nova Inglaterra. Em Nova York, as amostras da série da potência e da energia de palavras geradas por Wall Street e os mundos de publicidade e publicação. John Simon, crítico de teatro para a revista New York, e Jesse Sheidlower, principal editor norte-americano do Dicionário de Inglês Oxford, expressar os seus pontos de vista opostos sobre o futuro da língua, enquanto que adolescentes locais traduzir o jargão de Instant Messaging. Linguist William Labov revela que, anos atrás, um sotaque britânico era a marca de prestígio; agora que tem menos prestígio moeda. Em um trem para passageiros Pittsburgh são convidados a identificar as áreas do país onde as pessoas têm o "melhor" sotaque hoje. Nas ilhas fora da costa da Carolina do Sul, Africano-influenciados Gullah e Geetchee soar tão diferente do padrão Inglês que o filme emprega legendas. Em Detroit, uma equipe de hip-hop exemplifica uma nova tendência, e a história de três meninos envolvidos em um importante caso em tribunal 1979 ressalta o perigo dos estereótipos com base na não-"padrão" padrões de fala.

Do You Speak American? heads into the Deep South for a look at Appalachian and “hillbilly,” shaped by the Scots-Irish English of early frontier settlers like Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett. Footage of the legendary North Carolina storyteller Ray Hicks, who died in 2003, captures a prime example of the dialect, and in Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, “country talkin’” seems to be alive and kicking.MacNeil gets a first-hand glimpse into the world of CB radio thanks to Spanky the Trucker, whose nephew, the country singer Cody James – an Oregon native – discusses how speaking “country” had become a national trend. During a performance in front of a packed house, the popular stand-up comedian Jeff Foxworthy imparts the meaning of words like manaze (pronounced “may-naze”) and witchudidga (pronounced “witch-uh-did-yuh”). Then, it’s on to the bayou for a night of traditional dancing at Fred’s Lounge in Mamou, Louisiana, where owner Tante (Aunt) Sue speaks English smothered in Cajun overtones. At a barbecue on the Bar J Ranch outside of Beesville, Texas, cowboys recite their poetry and point out the Spanish roots of words like bronco, stampede, corral, and rodeo. Songwriter and novelist Kinky Friedman, a “professional Texan,” talks about cattywhompus and larrupin, and in Austin, journalist and commentator Molly Ivins sits down with MacNeil to share her thoughts on true Texan English. Finally MacNeil investigates the controversy created by the town of El Cenizo, Texas, which has adopted Spanish as its “official” language.

Now on the left coast, the series spotlights Spanglish – a hybrid of Spanish and English – with a segment on Patricia López, a video jockey on the local Latino television program Mex to the Max. It also explores Chicano – the thriving, distinct street talk of the Los Angeles Latino community – taking a trip to an inner-city park packed with urban teens accompanied by linguist Carmen Fought. MacNeil visits classrooms in which young students learn to translate Ebonics and the informal versions of English spoken at home into the classroom English they will need to succeed in the workforce. MacNeil gets a lesson himself in surfer-, skateboarder- and skater-speak. He meets up with screenwriters Amy Heckerling and Winnie Holtzman for a discussion about the impact of Hollywood on our language; comedian Steve Harvey, who says he sounds silly speaking anything other than “African-American,” but well understands the need for African-American children to be “bilingual”; and Cliff Nass, a Stanford University professor who poses thoughtful questions about the potential societal impact of voice-activated computers.