Thread: English and American langs

We in Russia are commonly taught a mixture of British and American dialects. I want to realize the differences and choose one of the langs Can you help me? Maybe, any useful links or anything else? Or is my plan just a freak?

First off, what are your goals? What will you use English for? Are you planning to travel? If so, where to - the US or Britain? And besides all that, which accent do you like better? Which culture interests you more? If you're learning English in order to visit the UK to go pub-crawling, watch a cricket or football match or just to tour historic sites, by all means, study the Queen's proper English. If you're learning English to visit the US to go bar-hopping, watch a basketball or football (not round!) game, or just to tour historic sites, go ahead and learn yourself some good American . Seriously, though, they are different languages and you're not at all crazy in deciding to choose between them. Personally, you'll be understood almost anywhere no matter which version you learn, if you learn good grammar and passable pronunciation. But although the Empire's gone, British English still seems to carry with it a certain prestige (when used naturally...Americans will sometimes fake a British accent when joking around), which might help in a business career.

We have some differnt slang term's and some differnt spellings. The accent is differnt too, but chances are youll be stuck with a Russian accent anyways, and it isn't like differnt parts of the US don't have differnt accents. You will be understood in both country's either way. I would probally just pick which version sounds the nicest to you, and what you will be using more.

Check out this link

http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aa110698.htm

Moryachka, my main goal is not to be a laughing-stock I think, it will be very funny if one phrase I speak in British and another one in American So I must know at least main differences.

Joel, thank you for the link. I started to learn it

Originally Posted by Moryachka

Seriously, though, they are different languages and you're not at all crazy in deciding to choose between them. .

This is the most inaccurate and misleading statement that I have ever heard of. Something that i would expect to hear from only the most self centered American.

The only thing different about the ENGLISH spoken in the USA and the ENGLISH spoken in Britain is the accent, except for what should be considered regional colloquialisms that you would find in any language.

The question you should ask yourself is "do i want an American accent or British?"
I advise going with British because you will appear more educated no matter what English speaking country you are in.
These days it is better not to be connected to America when you travel to other countries. Even in Australia, I was once berated in a Sydney pub by a rather attractive female for having spent 10 years in America. All of Americas faults were seen as mine, because I had the "audacity" to stay there so long.
You can travel much further and broader speaking British English than American.

Originally Posted by pranki

Moryachka, my main goal is not to be a laughing-stock I think, it will be very funny if one phrase I speak in British and another one in American So I must know at least main differences.

No one will laugh at you for any mistake you may make. I had some friends from Iraq who spoke British English. They sounded very intelligent and educated as such. You will not be able to hide your Russian accent either way.

Originally Posted by DDT

You will not be able to hide your Russian accent either way.

But I can aim at this

There is no significant difference between British English, American English, Austrailian English, Irish English, Scottish English.

It is awkward to discuss the American accent since I am an American and most educated Americans I converse with sound fine to me.

But I have to admit that the British accent has some appeal. For some reason the British accent sounds very Educated. I do not know why.

The Austrailian accent sounds un-educated to me. I am not saying it is bad, I still find the accent appealing and pleasent to listen to. Words like G'dye, barbie, mate, Ossie etc.

Irish and Scottish English sound merry to me. I guess it comes from listening to that lepracaun on the Lucky Charms cereal throughout my childhood years.

Well there are also vocabulary differences. For example, in American english, they say "bathroom", while if you go to Britain, they'll say "loo". In American english, you hear "cell phone", while in Britain you will here "mobile phone". Although on the whole, you would be able to get the gist of both of the dialects.

Originally Posted by DDT

The only thing different about the ENGLISH spoken in the USA and the ENGLISH spoken in Britain is the accent, except for what should be considered regional colloquialisms that you would find in any language.

... and some spelling, vocab and pronounciation! What kind of armour are you wearing, or is it armor? Do put your shotgun in the trunk or the boot? do you say alUminum or alumInium? DDT, you drive a truck or a lorry for a living? Do you go drinking on the weekend or at the weekend? do you recognize or recognise what I am trying to say?

But Pranki, the differences are so minute, that you should worry absolutely nil about it. English is english, you'll be understood 99.99% of the time.

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

do you say alUminum or alumInium?

Чапаев – Бойцы, сегодня будем таскать люминий
Петька – Не люминий, Василий Иванович, а Алюминий.
Чапаев – А шибко умные будут таскать чугуний

Originally Posted by DDT

This is the most inaccurate and misleading statement that I have ever heard of. Something that i would expect to hear from only the most self centered American.

I'm sorry. Didn't mean to come off that way. All I meant was to jokingly point out a few differences. Unfortunately, humour is not my strong point. And, Pranki - DDT's right. Nobody'll laugh at your accent. Yes, British English is likely the better way to go.

Out of curiousity, what do you guys think of American accents?

There is a version of English, which is not Runglish, Chinglish or whatever, but English spoken by a lot of educated foreigners who speak English well and don't belong to an English-speaking country. They concentrate on getting their pronunciation right, probably closer to British but some have some American sound to it. Spelling is slightly different but it's OK to use either, as long as you're consistent. American accent can be good too if you speak like a TV commentator, not like a bus driver. So a foreigner (French, German, Russian, Chinese, whatever) who mastered English may choose correct British or correct American accent.

Australian local accent does sound a bit undeducated but many Australian fix their accents and speak very decently without "ockering". Fro example TV reporters speak very good English in Australia and I enjoy their English more than those on CNN.

Your Englsih will develop as you use it, the words and phrases you pick up depend on sources you use, so you may be influenced by American, British or other source, it's all English. I would focus on words and phrases understood by all English speakers first - slang words are just innumerable, they change all the time and may not be understood by other English speakers. Read English books/sites you like without bothering too much, which version it is and you will get most of it.

In the contemporary world, the Americans lead and the English follow, so if you wish to learn a useful language, the American standard of English is the one to learn.

During Soviet times, the standard taught was primarily that of the so-called "United Kingdom" (i.e. England). Recent textbooks, however, teach the American standard, apart from a few quirks of UK usage which haven't been noticed and edited out yet.

Trying to use a compromise language will only make you sound like Austin Powers, and just like Austin Powers, you will be laughed at.

That being said, most English speakers around the world are very tolerant of differences in pronunciation and accent, somewhat less tolerant of grammatical errors and rather intolerant of the irritating localisms of vocabulary that untraveled English people tend to use. The international standard that Anatolij writes about is the American standard of English spoken with various accents, any of which is acceptable, provided that the grammar and usage are basically American.

I would like to correct the name Anatolij into Anatoliy.

Originally Posted by Jeff

In the contemporary world, the Americans lead and the English follow,

I can't wait till our UK members of MR get a load of you. wOOHoo!

Originally Posted by DDT

Originally Posted by Jeff

In the contemporary world, the Americans lead and the English follow,

I can't wait till our UK members of MR get a load of you. wOOHoo!

Well, in diplomacy, it's usually true, for better or worse.
In language, you should be able to see that the formal written standards of Australia and Canada have moved closer to that of the USA and that the specialized vocabulary of computing and communications technology was coined almost exclusively in the USA.

Originally Posted by Rtyom

I would like to correct the name Anatolij into Anatoliy.

It's all the matter of transliteration method used. My name Анатолий [letter-to-letter Anatoliy] has a short 'i' at the end, which can also be skipped when transliterated, it's spelled Anatoli in my passport as in my signature but more natural English spelling would be Anatoly. Letter j is pronounced as Y in 'yellow' in the majority of languages using Latin script, except perhaps English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. So Polish spelling could be Anatol or Anatolij, same with German, Turkish, etc. French name is Anatole with the mute 'e'.

I prefer Anatoli because that's the way I spell my name in English (I am not too fussed about people missplelling my name) but you will find other variations of spellings in English, in Russian there's only one full name - Анатолий.

Originally Posted by Jeff

Originally Posted by DDT

Originally Posted by Jeff

In the contemporary world, the Americans lead and the English follow,

I can't wait till our UK members of MR get a load of you. wOOHoo!

Well, in diplomacy, it's usually true, for better or worse.
In language, you should be able to see that the formal written standards of Australia and Canada have moved closer to that of the USA and that the specialized vocabulary of computing and communications technology was coined almost exclusively in the USA.

True about Canada, not exactly about Australia. Australian spelling rules are a mixture of British and American, more British than American. It's organise, not organize, etc. It's much closer to British but a few American spelling rules were adopted as standard, e. g. program, not programme.

Anyway, no one will be punished for spelling in American way, in other words it's a personal choice.

In New Zealand schools they now allow both British and American spellings - a recent change.

On pronunciation. Standard Australian pronunciation (used by TV/Radio commentators) is pretty much like British. In "Park" R makes the vowel longer but is not pronounced, etc.

Some words like "schedule" can be pronounced both as "skejule" or "shedyule" by different people in Australia, the first being the American way. Route is pronounced "root", not "rowt" but router is usually pronounced "rowter" as in the US.