Thread: English and American langs

As far as the American and British English not being two seperate languages, I read somewhere in a linguistic article (or maybe one of my German teachers told me, I can't remember because it's been several years now) that in the next 100-150 years American English and "Proper" English (British) are going to be so different, with new slang terms and gradualy changing gramatical structures, that they will be considered two different languages. I know that that is a long way off, and I agree that they are only very distinctive dialects now, but still....

As for which you should learn, as an American from the south I can state quite fankly that most people from my backwards home town find it very difficult to understand a British accent. Keep in mind that these are people who say things like, "Ya'll gunna come on down to da farm fer sum chicken?" I've exagerated a little, but not much. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that if you learn an American accent and our dialect of slang then you will be better understood in America AND the English will understand you just fine.

I have a link for you, too. It's an online dictionary of British and American slang. I warn you that some of them are a little bawdy, but I think it will really help you out. http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/

As usual, I get in on the tail-end of a juicy conversation...so I'll just add my 2 kopeks worth.

As to the British vs. American English debate, I get bombarded almost daily with this issue, as I'm an American teaching English here in Madrid, where overwhelmingly most of the English teachers are British.

Funny thing...MANY Spanish people, especially business people, specifically request American teachers...in order to pick up the American accent, phrasal verbs (a lot of differences), idioms, etc. Less and less requests are coming for British teachers at our school.

Also, most of my students have told me repeatedly that it is much easier for them to understand my American accent (which is clean and flat, coming from the Midwest), than it is to understand British accents. In fact, I've known occasions when students will reject their British teacher, because they simply cannot understand their British teacher, but can more easily understand an American teacher.

As to Aussies, of which we have a lot teaching in our school...Australian English may have its roots in British English...but honestly, I think Aussie English is much closer to American, albeit the accent and the obvious vocab differences. And most students I've observed have a far easier and more productive time with their Aussie teachers, over the British counterparts. I certainly have a much easier time understanding Aussie English than British English. Countless times I've had to ask a Brit to repeat something because of the bloody strong accent...almost never a problem with an Aussie.

Guys, I have no idea, what you are talking about..
Could someone record one sentence and then record it once again imitating English accent (or vice versa ), please? I really can't grasp the difference.
Once I watched an episode of 'Friends", where Ross talked with British accent, and I didn't even noticed this, untill they said about this directly. It sounded like he howled a little bit, but Ross often talks like this.

My two cents:

If you are travelling either in Britain or the US, either dialect will work well. If you are travelling in non-english speaking countries, it is my experience that they are much more familiar with American English due to US media and more people come to the US for university than Britain.

All in all, if you weigh everything, I'd suggest that you learn the American dialect of English.

- Joseph

Originally Posted by kwatts59

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.

HAHA - you are so right

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?

Originally Posted by Тостер

As far as the American and British English not being two seperate languages, I read somewhere in a linguistic article (or maybe one of my German teachers told me, I can't remember because it's been several years now) that in the next 100-150 years American English and "Proper" English (British) are going to be so different, with new slang terms and gradualy changing gramatical structures, that they will be considered two different languages. /

That has to be the dumbest thing I ever heard. It is more likely that the differences will abate.

I agree with DDT, that I don't think British English and American English will become 2 completely distinct languages.

Simple fact of today's world of commerce and business...it has brought Brits and Americans much closer and I think certain language differences are actually abating with time. Dialects and accents are still there, but honestly I notice very little difference now in grammar and structure.

Originally Posted by DDT

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?

Strange thing...Brits from outside London seem to usually speak clearer, cleaner English. We do have several teachers from Birmingham, and one from Liverpool, and their accents are thick. But I think certain areas of London may be the worst in terms of accent.

One of my closest friends is a very gifted linguist and teacher from Scotland, near Glasgow...fortunately she has worked hard to lose that Glasgow accent, but when she drops back into it for fun, forget it!

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.

I would have to say that the most prominant difference between British English and American English is Spelling and Pronunication

For example:

Honour and Honor

Colour and Color

etc

(In both cases, the first example is the British spelling and the second is the American spelling)

Neither is wrong and neither is better than the other.

Although as I have been told, Americans are easier to understand than British.

I do have to agree that accents play a major part in your ability to listen to and understand the conversation. Even I have difficulty understanding some British Accents, espically Cockney (London) and Brummy (Birmingham).

My partners english is excellent, sometimes I forget it isn't his native language, but he has trouble understanding me in some cases, espically if I talk fast.

:P

Talking of accents, I met a guy once who was Welsh by origin, but had moved to Australia many years before I met him. That was some accent! It was so thick that the proverbial knife wouldn't cut it It would probably take an axe.

I think being half English and half Canadian has made me fluent in both English language types.

When I'm in Canada I've hardly ever had trouble with certain words or meanings that differ to the UK and Canada.

I think from TV and other sources, British English has been influenced heavily by American English. I grew up knowing certain terms from what I'd learned from TV.

I agree with Debs on the prominent difference of spelling.

Originally Posted by Rtyom

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

Thank you, Анатолий. The experience of a Russian-turned-Australian is even better to know. So, it's the matter of "right place and right people" as it always has been with foreigners.

Could you tell me how were you adapting to the colloquial speech? I understand that it's really hard to get the hang of the subject. How it was for the first times?

Originally Posted by Анатолий

"Boot" (A.E.) is more common than "trunk" (B.E.).

I'm confused
My electronic dictionary says completely otherwise, that "boot" is B.E. and "trunk" is A.E.
Where is the truth?
And they both mean "багажник (автомобиля)", wright?

Originally Posted by Vadim84

Originally Posted by Анатолий

"Boot" (A.E.) is more common than "trunk" (B.E.).

I'm confused
My electronic dictionary says completely otherwise, that "boot" is B.E. and "trunk" is A.E.
Where is the truth?

Yes, you're right, my mistake. Anyway, boot is more common in Australia but there are more British words than American in Australia (when they are different).

And they both mean "багажник (автомобиля)", wright?

Correct.

Originally Posted by Rtyom

Thank you, Анатолий. The experience of a Russian-turned-Australian is even better to know. So, it's the matter of "right place and right people" as it always has been with foreigners.

Could you tell me how were you adapting to the colloquial speech? I understand that it's really hard to get the hang of the subject. How it was for the first times?

It's not so bad when you are immersed in the foreign language, which was my hobby before, so I enjoyed it, although it was challenging and I felt uncomfortable if I couldn't follow. I gets better all the time.

If you ask me how - listening to TV and radio apart from the talking helped a lot. Quite difficult were place and people's names, addresses, especially on the phone and when they spelled them out I couldn't write fast enough It was a matter of survival - if you can't speak - you can't eat (can't get a job, rent a flat, etc.) but I was keen, so overcame initial difficulties. I know lots of people who came with almost zero English and they picked it up pretty quickly.