Why/How is British English different from American English?

[BarraMarra]

Sums up the Yanks perfectly.

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

56 minutes ago, transam said:

English derives from England, English spoken outside England (UK) is adopted, as in the USA. In the UK Wales and Scotland had and still do have their own language, though they speak mainly English.

 

As for your Spanish, can you tell me, what language they speak in Mexico and another 20 countries..............?  🤔

 

Swahili?

[Kinok Farang]

On 4/29/2024 at 9:51 AM, EVENKEEL said:

Proper English my ass. Brits who pronounce water as waheh have no place teaching an English course in Thailand.

Waheh you talking about?

 

[Kinok Farang]

Separated by language but much much more.

We have cousins in Aussie,New Zealand and Canada.Even South Africa but "septic tanks" are a completely different breed.Humourless,self righteous and superior and their kids are even worse.

[BangkokReady]

On 4/29/2024 at 9:51 AM, EVENKEEL said:

Proper English my ass. Brits who pronounce water as waheh have no place teaching an English course in Thailand.

 

Anyone teaching English should adopt a neutral accent.  Cockney, Scottish, Northern, Irish, they all need to force themselves to speak in a style somewhere close to RP, otherwise the students are going to pick up their accents and will find it hard to communicate.

[Purdey]

The country is England. Its language is called English. Not British. Great Britain contains the countries of Wales and Scotland too, which have their own languages but use English for convenience, so there is no British English. Received Pronunciation (RP) is the only British accent that has no specific geographical correlate: it is not possible, on hearing someone speak RP, to know which part of the United Kingdom he or she comes from. There are variations of English, like regional dialects. American is a variation of English. The dialect regions of the United States are most clearly marked along the Atlantic littoral, where the earlier settlements were made. Three dialects can be defined: Northern, Midland, and Southern. Each has its subdialects.

As such, American English is just a variation of English, the same as in Canada, Australia and so on.

[GammaGlobulin]

41 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

 

Anyone teaching English should adopt a neutral accent.  Cockney, Scottish, Northern, Irish, they all need to force themselves to speak in a style somewhere close to RP, otherwise the students are going to pick up their accents and will find it hard to communicate.

 

I have spoken to a few young students out of China who come to Thailand to study at local International Schools in Phuket and other places.

 

The kids cannot help themselves, but....

 

When their teachers open their mouths, and begin to speak, especially the teachers from Manchester, ...

 

All of the Chinese students fall over laughing, and roll around on the classroom floors, in helpless mirth.

 

Some teachers from Manchester might mistakenly hold the belief that their efforts to speak RP is successful....but...

The Chinese students are NEVER fooled.

 

I have heard many interesting stories, replete with examples, which the students enjoy relating to anyone who will listen.

 

Fortunately, students never roll around on the floor when I lecture.

 

https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/magazine/opinion/lets-talk-about-accent/#:~:text=The Mancunian accent%2C for example,general' sounding accent in between.

 

Note:  So, now, Pronunciation is Society's Problem, is it?

 

 

Edited April 30 by GammaGlobulin

[Gandtee]

3 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

Fortunately, we can, both, properly pronounce the word conduminium.

 

Or condominium even.

[BarraMarra]

Whats your point Gamma ? is it better to have an English teacher from london or Manchester in a Thai School or an American ? come on stop going on about Accents in England. Stick to your thread heading.

[Srikcir]

Unlike "British" English, American English perhaps reflecting a broad freedom of speech in America's history (who cares about Webster?) was influenced by the trans-Atlantic slave trade bringing into America languages from Africa, wars with Indian aborigines, vast Latino immigrations, Mexican-American and Spanish-American wars, and vast number of Chinese immigrants involved in the Western gold rush, building railroads, mining and agriculture. 

Of course from the beginning of America was the immigration of European citizens seeking greater personal freedoms and economic gain.

 

[captpkapoor]

India has the world's highest number of English speakers (and one of the prominent dailies, The Times of India, is the highest circulated English newspaper in the world) - both probably because of the sheer size of the population.

 

Anyway, in my travels across India, and interactions with the sizeable "urban educated middle class Indian", as one of them described himself, one regular refrain stood out:

That a lot of people who say English is their native language - Brits, Americans, Aussies etc - do NOT really speak it correctly; and even among those who speak correctly, a large number cannot WRITE English correctly, i.e. they make a lot of grammatical and spelling mistakes. Syntax is poor.  One manager I met said he was appalled that his (Western) superior couldn't draft out a simple one page letter correctly, and he had to be frequently called to re-write the whole thing. 

 

I'm not getting into the British vs American English debate, just pointing out something interesting. 

[khunPer]

That's why is so difficult for non native English speakers to catch up with a proper either-or English...

[GammaGlobulin]

40 minutes ago, BarraMarra said:

Whats your point Gamma ? is it better to have an English teacher from london or Manchester in a Thai School or an American ? come on stop going on about Accents in England. Stick to your thread heading.

 

Having a teacher from either London or Manchester, or both, or an American teacher, or all three, is good for students.

The classroom should reflect the diversity of the real world.

 

We do not live in a world filled by people speaking only one language, or one dialect, and with only one accent.

I enjoy listening to different accents.

But, I think I am most partial to the speech patterns of The Fine People of Ireland.

 

Does anyone recall that great film:

 

 

Filmed in Ireland, it was....

 

 

Edited April 30 by GammaGlobulin

[ignore it]

Hum.

 

Pouring with rain.

Second turning on the left.

 

[transam]

I was on holiday in Malta, had a chat with a German guy who spoke English, the funny thing was, he spoke English with a brum (Birmingham) accent, I said, I know where you were taught English, or where your teacher came from....🤭

[Nick Carter icp]

13 minutes ago, transam said:

I was on holiday in Malta, had a chat with a German guy who spoke English, the funny thing was, he spoke English with a brum (Birmingham) accent, I said, I know where you were taught English, or where your teacher came from....🤭

 

   That must have been hilarious 

[scottiejohn]

41 minutes ago, transam said:

I was on holiday in Malta, had a chat with a German guy who spoke English, the funny thing was, he spoke English with a brum (Birmingham) accent, I said, I know where you were taught English, or where your teacher came from....🤭

Did he explain to you that he had been in a POW camp outside Birmingham?

[transam]

Just now, scottiejohn said:

Did he explain to you that he had been in a POW camp outside Birmingham?

He was not old enough....🤗

[Paris333]

Althought its hard enouth to figure out your inquiry the only thing someone can focus is that English is l.a.n.g.u.a.g.e and American -Australian -New Zealand etc (speaking English countries) are used d.i.a.l.e.c.t based in English form.

This means that many Americans use English language but there are huge differencies in what form they use it in many States.

 

Language vs Dialect: What You Need to Know

 

 

 

 

[scottiejohn]

22 minutes ago, transam said:

He was not old enough....🤗

OK! Maybe his dad then! 😁

[connda]

On 4/29/2024 at 11:11 AM, simon43 said:

I was brought up by my academic parents to speak RP - Received Pronunciation English, or perhaps some may call it 'Oxford English'.  Nowadays, you could never get a job in broadcasting if you speak RP, it must be Mancunian, Scouse etc etc.  

 

Happily for me, my accent has proven very popular with my students.  Just added some more young Chinese students who want to learn to speak 'proper English' !

You mean "snobby English." 

Interestingly enough, I'm a yank but spent my first three years in a "snobby English" private school back in the 50s.  Needless to say I came back to the US with that proper Oxford accent. It disappeared in due time.  Get me around those people though and I can flip back into the dialect to this day. Fun for messing with people's minds.
You imprint languages at a young age which is the best time to learn.  Dialects as well.

Edited April 30 by connda

[BarraMarra]

2 hours ago, connda said:

You mean "snobby English." 

Interestingly enough, I'm a yank but spent my first three years in a "snobby English" private school back in the 50s.  Needless to say I came back to the US with that proper Oxford accent. It disappeared in due time.  Get me around those people though and I can flip back into the dialect to this day. Fun for messing with people's minds.
You imprint languages at a young age which is the best time to learn.  Dialects as well.

Gee Buddy.

[saintdomingo]

11 hours ago, Kinok Farang said:

Waheh you talking about?

 

EVENKEEL thinks it's clever to act the dycke so best to leave him be.

Or perhaps he treats everyone as a mate and is just having a laugh and a joke.

[Luuk Chaai]

On 4/29/2024 at 9:51 AM, EVENKEEL said:

Proper English my ass. Brits who pronounce water as waheh have no place teaching an English course in Thailand.

 

Ha..   even the Irish speak "English" better than the Brits   ( 10-9-8-7-6.....)

[Expat68]

5 minutes ago, Luuk Chaai said:

 

Ha..   even the Irish speak "English" better than the Brits   ( 10-9-8-7-6.....)

Far better than Philippine's teaching English in Thailand which is the way it is going

[novacova]

20 hours ago, Surasak said:

Wherever did you find the word 'gotton'? It is not in any English dictionary. It is even underlined in red to show it is a mistake.

Been get’n the gotton from American west. Giddyup with it already and get with the vernaculars while the gitt’n is good. 

[EVENKEEL]

5 hours ago, saintdomingo said:

EVENKEEL thinks it's clever to act the dycke so best to leave him be.

Or perhaps he treats everyone as a mate and is just having a laugh and a joke.

You must be an English teacher with that uneducated accent.

[simon43]

12 hours ago, connda said:

You mean "snobby English." 

Interestingly enough, I'm a yank but spent my first three years in a "snobby English" private school back in the 50s.  Needless to say I came back to the US with that proper Oxford accent. It disappeared in due time.  Get me around those people though and I can flip back into the dialect to this day. Fun for messing with people's minds.
You imprint languages at a young age which is the best time to learn.  Dialects as well.

No, I don't mean 'snobby English'.  My family were middle class, living in a semi-detached house in working-class Leicester.  I was brought up to speak 'clear English'.

 

However, (and this is something that I mentioned in another thread), I also switched to a local, Leicester accent when chatting with school friends.  switching between RP and local accent according to the circumstances.

 

When I speak with adult colleagues who have local accents from eg - Birmingham, Manchester etc, and I ask them to switch off their local accent, they look at me as if I have come from Mars!  It seems they have no ability to switch off their local accent, and I find that positively weird!

 

If I encounter a taxi driver in Phuket who speaks with a Southern Thai accent, (which I find difficult to understand), I simply ask them to speak Bangkok Thai and they do so.

 

Are people not taught to switch off their accents? As a teacher, I am appalled when I hear an English teacher speaking with a 'thick' local accent.  It's not fair for the students and it shows a failing by the employer to ascertain whether or not the potential employee can speak English clearly. This kind of problem would be avoided if the teacher had learnt to switch off their accent when teaching students.

 

By the way, I am still trying to understand this 'waheh' for water 🙂.  Do you mean using a glottal stop in the middle and pronouncing the word as 'wor-er'?  

Edited May 1 by simon43

[transam]

1 minute ago, simon43 said:

No, I don't mean 'snobby English'.  My family were middle class, living in a semi-detached house in working-class Leicester.  I was brought up to speak 'clear English'.

 

However, (and this is something that I mentioned in another thread), I also switched to a local, Leicester accent when chatting with school friends.  switching between RP and local accent according to the circumstances.

 

When I speak with adult colleagues who have local accents from eg - Birmingham, Manchester etc, and I ask them to switch off their local accent, they look at me as if I have come from Mars!  It seems they have no ability to switch off their local accent, and I find that positively weird!

 

If I encounter a taxi driver in Phuket who speaks with a Southern Thai accent, (which I find difficult to understand), I simply ask them to speak Bangkok Thai and they do so.

 

Are people not taught to switch off their accents? As a teacher, I am appalled when I hear an English teacher speaking with a 'thick' local accent.  It's not fair for the students and it shows a failing by the employer to ascertain whether or not the potential employee can speak English clearly. This kind of problem would be avoided if the teacher had learnt to switch off their accent when teaching students.

But do Brits actually know they are speaking with an accent, for instance, if in a video I hear myself talking, I think, blimey, I sound like my late Gran, who Bristol born and bred, me a Londoner....😝

 

But, here in LOS, if locals talk to e in English, I do my best to speak Oxford...🤗

[SAFETY FIRST]

On 4/29/2024 at 9:09 AM, GammaGlobulin said:

the question of which, American English or British English, is superior is pointless,

Aussie English, everyone should learn. 

 

Here you go, Aussie lingo for you guys learn. 

 

 

 

Edited May 1 by SAFETY FIRST