Lesson Eight: American and British Accents Are Different
There are quite a few different accents in English, and a problem is being able to tell them apart, and knowing which one you should sound like. The previous examples have all been in the American accent to make things simpler. When you are first learning English you should only try to learn one accent, and you should decide whether that is an American accent or a British one. However you should try to understand both.To help you with understanding both accents, here is a list of some common and more difficult words in English, said with both a British and American accent. Listen to both pronunciations and see which one you most sound like.
| US | UK | US | UK | US | UK | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| abdicate | acquiesce | across | ||||||
| acute | adjacent | adjusted | ||||||
| adopted | antiquate | antique | ||||||
| anxiety | asked | athletic | ||||||
| atrocity | auxiliary | bus | ||||||
| business | buzz | cauterize | ||||||
| colloquialism | conjecture | conquer | ||||||
| crystallize | differential | drought | ||||||
| enjoy | escape | espresso | ||||||
| exacerbate | facsimile | ferocious | ||||||
| film | finale | immediately | ||||||
| impartial | inconsequential | inexhaustible | ||||||
| international | interpreted | juxtapose | ||||||
| light | long | luxury | ||||||
| mosque | mouth | often | ||||||
| outskirt | philanthropic | presidential | ||||||
| relevant | requirement | residential | ||||||
| right | simile | square | ||||||
| stretched | stringent | stroke | ||||||
| substantial | suspicious | threaten | ||||||
| thumb | tranquilize | vivacity | ||||||
| voracious | wrong | |||||||
Lesson index:
- Lesson one - Many sounds in english are not in your native language.
- Lesson two - Some combinations of sounds can be hard to pronounce.
- Lesson three - Syllable structure can vary a lot.
- Lesson four - Words are not always pronounced the way they are spelt.
- Lesson five - Accents, how to stress the correct syllable in a word.
- Lesson six - Pitch and loudness change the meaning of sentences.
- Lesson seven - Words change their pronunciation when in a sentence.
- Lesson eight - American and British accents are different.
- Lesson nine - How to test, see and hear your pronunciation on your computer.
