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British or American English in Europe | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Carlos Ignacio Diglot Newbie ChileRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4917 days ago 12 posts - 15 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: French | Message 1 of 34 03 June 2011 at 3:39am | IP Logged | |||||
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Here in South America the most of the people learn American English (mainly of course), I think this is because the geographic closeness, but also because of the huge america's influence in these regions (commercial, politic, cultural, etc).
I want to know if in Europe it's the same, or not. The English taught in European schools... Which is it mainly? Probably Russians are more familiarized with American English, but what about Germans, French, or even Swedesh? Edited by Carlos Ignacio on 03 June 2011 at 3:43am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| NickJS Senior Member United Kingdom flickr.com/photos/sg Joined 4950 days ago 264 posts - 334 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 2 of 34 03 June 2011 at 4:34am | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm not entirely sure what they are taught in Europe, but Scandinavians and all around
that geographic area seem to talk standard British English, although the influence of American English is apparent in the UK too, as I have encountered people who use the American English spellings instead of British...Even I have on occasion. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Carlos Ignacio Diglot Newbie ChileRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4917 days ago 12 posts - 15 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: French | Message 3 of 34 03 June 2011 at 4:52am | IP Logged | |||||
Really? I can't believe it, being so beautiful the British accent (at least the southern one, which I know). Thanks for the replay! PD: Another twitter here. Edited by Carlos Ignacio on 03 June 2011 at 4:55am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Lugh Diglot Newbie Korea, South Joined 5410 days ago 10 posts - 13 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Korean | Message 4 of 34 03 June 2011 at 5:56am | IP Logged | |||||
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Officially, it is British English that is taught in the French education system. Sadly French kids are not exactly the most eager students when it comes to languages...
In my experience, those who actually speak English in Belgium/France will most likely use a mix between the "formally taught" British English from school and the "omnipresent" American English from movies and series. I'm one of those, actually. (While I do not "know", I would tend to assume it is the same in the Netherlands as well considering the fact that movies tend to be subbed and not dubbed) Overall, I would tend to say that the omnipresence of American English makes it probably more widely spread despite the education's desire to promote the British one. Ps: Oh, and of course, I am mainly talking about the choice of words/expressions. The accent is a completely different story! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| NickJS Senior Member United Kingdom flickr.com/photos/sg Joined 4950 days ago 264 posts - 334 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 5 of 34 03 June 2011 at 6:21am | IP Logged | |||||
Thanks for following on Twitter. As Lugh mentioned its TV and movies that generally influence the majority of these nations. I have a northern accent myself, although there is the region-less accent that is called received pronunciation, otherwise known as Queen's English, which you maybe familiar with if you have seen British news presenters. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5823 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 6 of 34 03 June 2011 at 6:48am | IP Logged | |||||
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I have an American friend who teaches English in Prague. He sometimes asks me about certain British English phrases or British institutions as the curriculum he follows in the high school where he teaches is based on British English. Obviously his students also get a lot of American inmput :)
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| ReneeMona Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5326 days ago 864 posts - 1274 votes Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 7 of 34 03 June 2011 at 8:53am | IP Logged | |||||
Yes, that's exactly the situation in the Netherlands as well. Schools teach RP vocabulary and spelling but make no attempts at correcting students' pronunciation so people are left at the mercy of their own TV-habits. Those few who watch British series and films might end up with the right accent to go with what they've been taught but those getting a lot of American input end up having to change their spelling and vocabulary unless they want to sound like a strange hybrid (I am one of these and I am still in the process of sifting Briticisms out of my vocabulary and replacing them with their American equivalents). And then there's the rest of the students (in my experience they form the vast majority) who for some reason never develop an acceptable accent at all and don't care enough to change it so they speak British English with a Dutch-accented attempt at an American accent. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6573 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 8 of 34 03 June 2011 at 9:21am | IP Logged | |||||
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British English is what's taught in Swedish schools, too, or at least that's what I was taught. This did not stop me from ending up with a thorough Hollywood accent. Most Swedes I've heard talking English have Swedish accents, a few have British ones and not too many seem to have American accents.
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