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British English V American English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5831 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 17 11 April 2012 at 2:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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Which one is most popular these days with second language learners? From what I've read, I get the general impression that British English has fallen out of favour somewhat and people see American English as easier to pronounce, slightly easier to learn and a generally more desirable dialect to be able to speak.
The situation with British and American English is kinda the same as what has happened to European Spanish and European Portuguese. People don't want to learn the Iberian dialects anymore, they want to speak Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. Interestingly, this has not happened to French though. Parisian French is still regarded as the only dialect a learner should be interested in, and all other dialects are regarded as inferior bastardisations. Edited by COF on 11 April 2012 at 2:48pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fabriciocarraro Hexaglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Brazil russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4715 days ago 989 posts - 1454 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese | Message 2 of 17 11 April 2012 at 3:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well, since I live in Brazil, American English plays a much bigger role here. I find the British English more beautiful and would like to speak like it, but my accent is definitely American.
I don't think I'll be able to change it at this point =/ Edited by fabriciocarraro on 11 April 2012 at 3:22pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| kaloolah Diglot Newbie Canada Joined 4865 days ago 16 posts - 26 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 17 11 April 2012 at 3:28pm | IP Logged | ||
^With Canada being an exception, obviously. Everyone studies French in school, but few people reach a decent level. We mostly start with Français standard, but I've found that almost all advanced Canadian French L2 speakers speak Québécois French. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| arturs Triglot Senior Member Latvia Joined 5271 days ago 278 posts - 408 votes Speaks: Latvian*, Russian, English | Message 4 of 17 11 April 2012 at 3:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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American - it just seems more relaxed and I naturally tend to speak English that way. But I can speak also with a British accent, if I want - it gives you more a "Like a sir" feeling. :D
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| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5831 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English* | Message 5 of 17 11 April 2012 at 3:49pm | IP Logged | ||
I'm guessing your refering to "Reveived Pronounciation" as there are many British dialects that sound as far from upper-class as you can get. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vonPeterhof Tetraglot Senior Member Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4772 days ago 715 posts - 1527 votes Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Japanese, German Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish | Message 6 of 17 11 April 2012 at 5:09pm | IP Logged | ||
Edited by vonPeterhof on 11 April 2012 at 5:10pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4639 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 7 of 17 11 April 2012 at 5:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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I would think that for a Latin American, it seems natural to want to learn American English. It is after all closer to home. Likewise, for someone in the US, it would seem to make sense to learn Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.
For me, British English was the obvious choice, and after all it is what was thaught in school. I have also lived in England, so I speak with a British (RP) accent. However, many Scandinavians, due to the influence of American movies and pop culture, try to adopt an American English pronunciation. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| crafedog Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5818 days ago 166 posts - 337 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Korean, Tok Pisin, French | Message 8 of 17 11 April 2012 at 7:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think in Europe, British English holds more weight however in South America and Asia,
it's American. As for Africa and the Arab states, I have no idea but I would bet American due to its global influence for the most part. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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