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US vs UK English for learners | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| elcastellano Newbie United States Joined 5680 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes | Message 49 of 136 08 May 2009 at 8:12pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
If you wanna hear something crazy, I have a rosettastone demo and I's doin american English, which Im a native speaker of, anyways, aparently in the voice recordin section, I couldnt match my pronunciation with the speaker. But, when I did brittish English, I use my own accent and I got thru it no problem. But, Im from texas and I heard about our dialect being influence by brittish English. But then agin any thangs possible. So the moral of the story, keep talkin the way you talk. Youll do jus fine.
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| pmiller Account terminated Groupie Canada Joined 5675 days ago 99 posts - 104 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 50 of 136 18 May 2009 at 8:49pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Quite right that you do! No, seriously, it's very big of you, actually! :P Edited by pmiller on 18 May 2009 at 8:52pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| pmiller Account terminated Groupie Canada Joined 5675 days ago 99 posts - 104 votes Speaks: English* | Message 51 of 136 18 May 2009 at 9:01pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Don't you mean "HAIR-us-ment" instead of "harassment"? :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| pmiller Account terminated Groupie Canada Joined 5675 days ago 99 posts - 104 votes Speaks: English* | Message 52 of 136 18 May 2009 at 9:14pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Either that or else affected, pretentious, snobbish, arrogant, etc. Or both, come to think of it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| pmiller Account terminated Groupie Canada Joined 5675 days ago 99 posts - 104 votes Speaks: English* | Message 53 of 136 18 May 2009 at 9:20pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I can't resist. I'm sure the French pronounce -NARD in some exaggerated, nasaly manner, but even in English the stress is still on the second syllable, isn't it? You don't pronounce it as in German "BERN-hard", do you? Or what? Do you say "BURN-ard"? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| pmiller Account terminated Groupie Canada Joined 5675 days ago 99 posts - 104 votes Speaks: English* | Message 54 of 136 18 May 2009 at 9:31pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Yeah, that's what I was thinking too.
Surely it's Guh-RAAJ, isn't it? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| alunap Newbie Scotland Joined 5724 days ago 15 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Latin, French | Message 55 of 136 18 May 2009 at 9:40pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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BURN-uhd, though I don't think the stress difference is that great, but it is there. Putting it noticeably on the
second syllable definitely sounds like the person is being pretentiously french (assuming they are generally speaking with an English accent, of course). On the main topic, it depends on what you want, doesn't it? If you want to be taken for a native, then choose the accent of the country you want to visit or live in - but not the exact area (so differences aren't too noticeable). If it is to be as widely understood as possible, then you can choose either British, American, Canadian or (mild) Australian accents, but not just any one of them: some are clear and some are hard to follow (there are british accents that I can't understand). If the idea is to learn one that is pleasant to the ear, well then choose one that is pleasant to your ear. Again, there are pleasant American accents - I think of Western accents for example, and there are unpleasant ones - New York puts my teeth on edge, and many Southern accents are irritating. On the British side, SE English accents are generally ok, but some aren't (Cockney); the Birmingham and Liverpool accents are just nauseating to me, and the Somerset accent comical. In Scotland, glaswegian is too harsh, but highland scots accents are beautiful (though some are unclear). In Britain, people with a scottish accent are taken to be more honest, according to polls. As for Wales, the accents locate you in a defined area and are hard to pull off unless you are a native; anyway, the Cardiff accent is execrable, but Gwynedd accents are very pleasant and musical. I've never heard a Canadian accent yet that was unpleasant, and I like Australian too. South African tends to be too hard. Irish accents can be really lovely -Cork for example - but avoid the Belfast accent. My two pence. Edited by alunap on 18 May 2009 at 9:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| pmiller Account terminated Groupie Canada Joined 5675 days ago 99 posts - 104 votes Speaks: English* | Message 56 of 136 18 May 2009 at 10:08pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Oh, man - what a fun thread! I really got some good laughs out of it.
OK - now I'll weigh in with my opinion on the whole American vs. Briddish debate. (Yeah, I know). Although I love the sound of RP and wish I could speak with that accent (if not with the different vocabulary), I usually have a hell of a time understanding the way most Brits actually speak (ditto for Scots, Irish, Aussies, Kiwis, Saffers & Newfies). It seems to me that "standard American", for better or worse, is the world standard for clear, understandable English, and has been for some time now, probably due primarily to Hollywood's pervasive influence, as well as American TV and pop music. And this isn't just a matter of accent, but also of vocabulary. So my recommendation, at this point in history, is for English-learners to learn the American version first. With American English, you will easily be understood in Britain, Ireland, Australia, etc., whereas if you learned British you would have some difficulty in the US. For instance, Brits know full well what an elevator is, or a car trunk. But the typical American would scratch his head if you asked him where the "lift" is or told him to "put it in the boot". Another reason to learn (standard) American: it is very neutral in a class sense. So while RP type accents in the UK signify education and higher socio-economic status, most other British accents by definition suggest something lower. All a Brit has to do is open his mouth and fellow Brits can immediately "place" him in the British class system. My understanding is that even a lot of Brits find the American accent attractive for this reason - it's never perceived as lower class, but rather a respectable middle to upper. On the other hand "southern" American accents are perceived as slow, stupid, or lower-class - is this what some posters were thinking of when they said they couldn't take the "American" accent seriously? Were they thinking of George Bush or something? Would love to hear more about British accents and how they relate to class, because class seems to be America's biggest taboo - hence we really don't hear about it much. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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