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American or British accent more popular? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5823 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 70 28 May 2012 at 5:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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It seems to me these days everyone wants to speak like an American rather than like a Brit.
I can understand this in Asia and South America, but even in Europe it seems to me that the American accent is very common and many people who are proficient in English speak with an unmistakable American accent. Do these people make an active effort to learn to pronounce their words and speak like an American, or is it just because of the dominance of American culture that they often use American speakers as a pronunciation model? In fact, I've heard in countries that have a lot of ESL teachers, American speakers are by far prefered to British speakers, as the American accent is regarded as cutting edge and 21st century, while the British accent is regarded as something of the past. In fact, I've heard even Australian speakers come before Brits in order of preference. Also, I think there is a general attitude that the American accent sounds cool, laid-back and relaxed, while the British accent sounds stuffy, unfriendly and up tight. Edited by COF on 28 May 2012 at 5:36pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5445 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 2 of 70 28 May 2012 at 5:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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– American vs
British English – British or American English in Europe – British and American Accent – The Swedes' British Accent Edited by tractor on 28 May 2012 at 9:28pm 8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5557 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 3 of 70 28 May 2012 at 10:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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What a surprising topic you have raised here... with all your prejudicial bells and
whistles worked in. Still, despite the stuck gramophone, it is a valid question - there is this YouTube blog from a Dutch lady called Sanne called Books and Quills. Her blog started in 2009 - she started with an almost perfect London accent and over time it has gone to full-on EuroAmerican - which is odd, given her British accent was far more accomplished and her tastes in literature and TV seems to be almost entirely British based. She has obviously chosen to speak septic. I suppose its the fact that the US of America is the metropolitan centre of trade and culture in the English speaking world and that Americans may be less tolerant of people speaking British English than British people are of people speaking American English. If you are choosing an accent, you go for the one that gets you accepted in most places, rather than one that doesn't. 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Globe-trotter Triglot Newbie Netherlands Joined 4589 days ago 29 posts - 44 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, German Studies: Thai | Message 4 of 70 28 May 2012 at 10:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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In the Netherlands most people use American English, because they learn English from
watching television and movies. Those who started learning English in high school (which is very rare nowadays) speak British English. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Hampie Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6651 days ago 625 posts - 1009 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Latin, German, Mandarin | Message 5 of 70 28 May 2012 at 11:00pm | IP Logged | ||
I certainly do not agree with that, neither would most of the people I know. As far as I'm concerned most people in the sphere where I'm in prefer british over american, that is academia, humanities, left-wing/socialist/green views. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| nway Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Vic Joined 5407 days ago 574 posts - 1707 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean | Message 6 of 70 28 May 2012 at 11:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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I could've sworn I've seen COF raise this same topic in numerous other threads. Maybe I just have a bad case of déjà vu... Edited by nway on 28 May 2012 at 11:05pm 10 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cortical Tetraglot Newbie CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4625 days ago 30 posts - 52 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, SpanishB1 Studies: Russian, Mandarin | Message 7 of 70 28 May 2012 at 11:33pm | IP Logged | ||
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In high school we didn't learn any specific accent, and until I realized that the difference between AE and BE is more than just a bit of vocabulary I already spoke with an American Accent through television. During the past couple of years I came to prefer British accents over American varieties. I don't think however, that I'm ever gonna change my pronunciation to a British Accent, because it sort of feels ingrained and natural to me like my Bavarian accent does when speaking German. I want to learn to imitate British accents though, to some degree or another, just for fun ...
3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4657 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 8 of 70 29 May 2012 at 12:24am | IP Logged | ||
In my experience Americans love British accents -- in fact, they are fascinated and charmed by most any kind of non-American native Anglophone accent. :-) 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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