Search results for 'tag:Lazy English tag:American accents' matching tags 'Lazy English' and 'American accents'

Re: Is American English lazy English?

Ville_maddengurl — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:08:08 GMT

I've never seen any Japanese who can use American accent perfectly... On the other hand,Japanese-English is cute i think...

i am learning English at an American College for 11 years ...In 2003 summer i was in Florida, they-Americans- could not realize i am American or not...

Re: Is American English lazy English?

Marvin A. — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 03:58:09 GMT

Unless you get the accent down perfectly, it's unlikely that anyone will even be able to tell which dialect of English you learned. For example, Japanese speakers cannot make the vowel distinctions between General American and RP, nor can they pronounce their final r's, so they sound "British" (RP) no matter whether they tried to learn General American, or RP, or Scottish English, or any other variety of English. But...their Japanese accent is stronger than their "RP" accent, so they still just sound like they're speaking Japanese-English. I'm serious about this.

So, to those of you that think that you're going to end up sounding like you're speaking with a British accent, or a North American accent, you're not...without long dialect coaching and accent reduction.

An interesting thing that I've discovered: If you do manage to get a near native sounding accent, then you might as well learn the opposite accent of the country you plan on visiting. So, if you're going to visit the States, then learn RP. If your accent is fairly good, you *will* be mistaken for an Englishwoman.

Re: Is American English lazy English?

Ville_maddengurl — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 01:16:10 GMT

MrPedantic wrote:

Sorry, Merve, I know it was bad of me...but it was late...I had just completed my annual tax return...(that major work of fiction)...levity inevitably ensued...

~ ~ ~ ~

But do you really want to change your accent to a British one?

MrP

Never mind, it is really easy to hurt a little girl like me... and you can placate a little girl easily... That's it...You will tease me, i will regret... I will decide to be more vigilant...And you will tease me again and again and again...Until i become ripe and more well-informed than you. Everytime it happens... I want to thank you MrP, i could not think you would tease me...I took my lesson from you; I won't even trust my father...

Let us forget British English, i am quite happy with American English (Hey,dude,it's a boy! -Griffin-)

In the end : AMERICAN ACCENT RULES!!!

Re: Is American English lazy English?

MrPedantic — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 12:42:04 GMT

Ville_maddengurl wrote:
i want to give American accent up and learn English accent to talk more intelligible...is it OK now, MrP ..?

I'm sorry, VM, you're going to have to speak much more slowly.

In fragments.

Without verbs.

And say "er" and "um" and "right?" a lot.

And add quite a few expletives.

Preferably in a glottal mumble, through your nose.

Then British people will understand you...

MrP

Re: Is American English lazy English?

Kooyeen — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 02:37:49 GMT

Ville_maddengurl wrote:
i want to escape from American accent and get English accent... it is the most intelligible one !

You'll never succeed, American English will chase you and will catch ya! It's everywhere, you can't run away, you can't hide... it'll eventually find you, and it'll be like: "Oh my God Ville Maddengurl, it's been like, a while, so whassup? We are like, going to the mall or something. Are you coming?" ---- And then it'll be too late to run away, Ville Maddengurl, you're gonna answer: "Oh my God, like, totally!"

Ok now, seriously, I don't think British accents are simpler to understand. I actually don't know what accents are simple to understand, I would say American, but probably because I'm only used to American English. So the simplest is probably the one you use everyday or hear most of the time. Italian is simple, for example, isn't it?

Re: Is American English lazy English?

Ville_maddengurl — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 02:28:09 GMT

i want to give American accent up and learn English accent to talk more intelligible...is it OK now, MrP ..?

Re: Is American English lazy English?

MrPedantic — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 00:22:08 GMT

Ville_maddengurl wrote:
i want to escape from American accent and get English accent... it is the most intelligible one !

I'm sorry, VM, I didn't quite catch that. Could you say it again, please?

Re: Is American English lazy English?

Ville_maddengurl — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 22:06:25 GMT

i want to escape from American accent and get English accent... it is the most intelligible one !

Re: Is American English lazy English?

Marvin A. — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 06:41:22 GMT

Wow, what a lot of nonesense.

Is American English simply lazy English with disregard for the fundamentals of the language, or is it a valid simplification of an overly complex and irregular language?

Huh? What are you talking about?

I was hoping nobody would ask, but since you did, I much prefer the attitude of the British. They have enough respect for the language to use correct spelling

How is modern British spelling more "correct"? Who determines correct spelling anyway? The differences in spelling between the US and the UK are mostly due to there being multiple forms that were considered "correct" at the time: such as "color" and "colour".

(The British have) clear enunciation

Oh they do, do they? Are you referring to RP, which is spoken by about 4% of the population, or are you referring to Glaswegian?

(And the British have the) correct use of prepositions and general grammar (and Americans don't)

Huh?

It is not my intention to offend users of American English, users of the imperial system of measurement or anyone else who cares little for international standards.

By your logic, the imperial system should be the correct one. After all, it was invented in Britain. They simply "dumbed down" their system (as you like to say), and switched to the metric system.

I know literacy levels in most western countries are declining rapidly. Could this be a contributing factor?

What does literacy have to do with it?

they use American enunciation

There are several dialects of North American English.

(The "American enunciation", grammar, etc.) all these also have been standardized

Um, no. There is no standardized pronunciation in North American English.

British is regarded as classical English?

"Classical English"? Modern British dialects, particularily RP, have diverged more from the English that both RP and General American are derived from. The non-rhoticity is one thing.

When one considers that the countries on the following list and a multitude of other nations have deep historical if not current connections with Britain and British English, I think it is quite likely that the use of Bitish English is far more widespread and popular than one might think at first glance.

Canada

Um. Canada does not speak "British English".

Oh, by the way, British English is taught in Australian schools, and I think it would be fair to say that Australians take great pride in the preservation of 'proper' (the Queen's) English

Australians speak *Australian English* not British English. They are not "taught" British English. Their spelling system is closer to the British standard though. As for Australians speaking the Queen's English, nothing could be father from the truth, in fact most non-Australians think that most forms of Australian English sound very much like Cockney.

Interesting that Australians take much pride in using British English - that actually would support the thesis that it'll hardly happen that the British English will be replaced by the American English, what do you think?

Um. They don't use British English... But they're of course not going to adopt an American accent. That would be like thinking that people from Berlin would adopt a Swiss German accent.

As nationalities continually interact around the word, shouldn't there be ONE set standard for both measurement and English? Emagine if you gave a spelling test to students from different English speaking countries. Q. What would be the correct spelling for the word "COLOR/COLOUR" ? (for example) Who would pass the test and who would fail?

Um. Both were used in the past as acceptable variants.

As nationalities continually interact around the word, shouldn't there be ONE set standard for both measurement and English?

No. English is a pluricentric language.

American English now is mostly ebonics lol

Rubbish

In a nutshell American and British English are but two dialects of ENGLISH.

They are not two "dialects". There's really no such thing as "American English" or "British English". There are many dialects of English in North America, as well as many dialects in the Britain.

I don't think I would consider British English "Classic English". British English and American English were assumable one in the same 200 years ago.

Exactly. But remeber, even at that time there was not just one form of English. There were many dialects.

I started this thread in 2003, and I have to admit I now feel a little silly about it.
Thanks to the input in this thread (and others) I realise my stupidity at having been so outspoken.

Good.

U.S. has a very diverse population. The pressure, naturally, is to simplify English so everyone, including the non-native speakers, can understand each other.

Rubbish. How has it become simpler?

They should learn to write properly, that is, English, proper English

Write properly? What is this "correct spelling" anyway?

So you're quite likely to hear a rising 'Australian' intonation in plain statements, for example â which to some BrE ears makes every statement sound like a question.

That's also found in North American English. It's associated with California English and Valley girls for the most part. It has very little to do with Australian influence.