Quote Originally Posted by Rtyom
Quote Originally Posted by DDT
I just spent the last 4 or 5 hours talking to a Russian friend of mine who learned British English and there is no way to tell that she learned British English instead of American English by listening to her. It will not make a difference what kind of English you learn because to us you will just sound like a Russian who speaks English.!!!!!!!!!! You will not lose your Russian accent.

Dobry,
Are those British teachers from Liverpool or Birmingham or something? In some areas the accents are thick. What ever happened to Brits with a BBC accent?
DDT, since you're an Australian... Could you tell me some most distinct things between Australian and British 'BBC' English. I'm curious because my sister said that she understands BBC radio very well but almost nothing of any Asutralian radio. I don't have a possibility to compare no, that's why I'm asking.
Rtyom, as you probably know, I am Russian living in Australia. English spoken in Australian TV and radio doesn't differ much from English. In fact, I was able to understand it well before coming to live in Australia and found it easier to understand than American English. Mind you, I am talking about standard English spoken in Australia (e.g. spoken by TV announcers), not the Aussie slang.

As for the Australian English spoken in the street, you might need some adapting. You might be put off by the vowels. At first 'lake' sounded like 'like' and 'time' like 'toym' to me. I heard Americans complain that Australians speak faster and less clearer, well, for me it's the other way around now, no problem with Australian English at all but I prefer to watch some American movies with subtitles...

http://www.australiatravelsearch.com.au/trc/slang.html
http://www.imagesaustralia.com/australianslang.htm