Poll: British English vs American English

Anonymous wrote:

Well, I have encountered this problem recently. I had been learning english for few years, then I stopped attending courses or lessons, I have been learning at home and watching American TV series and movies.. so I have picked up a lot of vocabulary. So far, so good. Then I realised, when preparing to Cambridge Exam, that I have to "forget" american words and learn british equivalents. Because now I am mixing both.. It's fine by me, as long as people can understand me. Still when passing an exam you need to be consistent, using either american or british english. It's tricky. American english surrounds us everywhere, so we're more familiar with it. On the contrary I just love british accent, even though learning british pronounciation isn't easy.

Nice to hear from you again, Anonymous It's tricky for us teachers, too.  We don't even know, if  it's just going to be British or American English.  Few days ago, I met some students and their parents asked about teachers who can teach Canadian English. Imagine?!

Daffy Duck wrote:

Mr_Dying wrote: Most Indonesian news readers use American English. Just a few use British English. I like British English accent though. Thanks for the inputs, Mr. _Dying.

You are welcome, Daffy Duck.

I think the question for this topic was phrased wrong.

You should change it to:

English English VS. American English

It would help you understand the answer better

"american english" is such a peculiar phrase, a complete paradox in so many ways.

In any case there is not much difference between the two, Americanised English tends to have a strong basis of colloqial slurs - based on the strong accents of the first settlers. It tends to be more "rounder" "lazy" and "fluid"

I personally adore the accent found on most american male filmstars of the 1950's - So dignified.

Aside from that I find american accents quite irratating.

It doesnt sound very elegant/sophisticated and lacks clarity/definition.

We have so many strong regional accents in England, is is amazing how none of them filter down to the "standard" English.

Standard English is a very "clean" with a unnaccented sound, it is definetely the best for a learner and will help them to differentiate pronunciation of words more effectiveley.

It is also more respected by employers.

There is always a lot of silly talk when this topic comes up.

As teachers, we should be aware that it is hard for our students to master two varieties of English, even though for native speakers it is quite easy, and there appears to be little difference. However, you do teach a variety, probably the one you use everyday yourself, and if it isn't the variety that the student is going to be tested on or encounter in daily life, it can be a little problematic. As to which variety, that will vary according to situation, but obviously U.S is more likely to be the one the student needs.