Hi Kooyeen I have never concentrated on learning any particular variety of English because it has always been my objective to acquire as good a command of the languagae as possible. Limiting my efforts to just one variety would constitute a

Language teachers, could you tell us about some ways in which you are providing "learners with the tools to cope with 'real-life' communication ..."? Here in my country, they don't. And I heard it's so in most other

You should have learned about pronunciation since the beginning! It's important! Anyway, it's not too late, don't worry. If you think you're going to hear more American English than British English, or if you plan to go to the US,

DC, As for Arnold, I am guessing that about him because he still has a relatively heavy accent but I have never have any trouble understanding anything he says. It seems unlikely to me that this is coincidence. There are two ways we could know for

Rubbish (meant nicely, but). Shades of my old Eng Lit ... gem, but doesn't fit the scansion. Nothing more, nothing less. Okay, now what about this issue of the pronunciation? Ross implied that the "Lancasheer" pronunciation which

No, not entirely. But then, if you consider modern USAmerican patterns and pronunciation, it seems to owe a very great deal to non-English languages in particular, Deutsch, Dutch, Yiddish, and American Spanish, but also the many immigrant

/eIdZ/ There's only one syllable; you must mean the final ... countless other English words: judge, edge, jail, June, major, etc. Thanks for replying, I am according with you but, Then is wrong to pronounce the final segment as the first sound

I don't hate America, Charles, and I certainly don't hate Americans. What I hate is being forced to do things in a certain way here. There's a big difference. I find this thread fascinating and I can see Chris's points. I think

I wonder whether he's a BrE, say, who is hearing some particular American accent's /E/ realization as an /i/. PIPs, for example, will say "semi" in a way that might sound like "simmy" or "simm-eye" to PINPs. I

This supposed "Standard American English accent" sounds like a variation on the now rarely-used term "General American": From the dictionary at www.infoplease.com , which appears to be the *Random House Webster's Unabridged