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US vs UK English for learners | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes  Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 1 of 136 29 April 2009 at 4:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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If you are a speaker of English as a foreign language, do you model your accent on British or American English? What did you base your decision on?
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| sgg Triglot Newbie Germany Joined 6622 days ago 8 posts - 9 votes Speaks: German*, English, Latin Studies: Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian | Message 2 of 136 29 April 2009 at 5:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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Since I've once lived in the US for about a semester I got used to the American pronunciation which I now prefer! I think it's not the worst choice, because e.g. in many (mainstream) movies people speak "American"... so understanding them works fine for me. Another point is that there are potentially more people with an American than with a British pronunciation.
Hm... not very striking reasons, but that's the way it is ;) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6903 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 3 of 136 29 April 2009 at 6:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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At first, I didn't model my accent on a particular variety. I wish I did because I learned something in between, but the teachers (including the good ones) never cared.
One and a half years ago I decided to work on my pronunciation and I chose American English, mostly to the fact I keep hearing it all the time (e.g. American movies). It also seems more "neutral" to me, and I guess I'm not alone. I have the impression that somehow it would sound ridiculous to speak with British accent if this accent isn't almost perfect. After some work my (American) accent improved quite a lot (although it was still far from what I aimed at). The strange thing is I've noticed recently that I tend to sound a bit British now (vocalized r, some British-sounding vowels). I haven't worked on my American pronunciation since I went to Switzerland but I didn't have any strong exposure to British English either. Maybe that's the influence of French and German that I speak every day? When I get back, I will probably have to rethink the choice of variety. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Dark_Sunshine Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5765 days ago 340 posts - 357 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 4 of 136 29 April 2009 at 6:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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just wanted to say, you don't sound ridiculous trying to speak with an imperfect British accent - you just sound foreign, which most of us Brits tend to like! So don't let that put you off.
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| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 5 of 136 29 April 2009 at 8:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with Dark Sunshine. You just sound more European that way (which you are..)
Personally I think that people from Northern Europe and Eastern Europe sound much better when they go for a British accent. On the other hand, Southern Europeans, Germans and Dutch can get away with the American style accent without sounding strange. Italians sound right cool with US accent! I have been reviewing a bunch of "verbal exercises" by Russian speaking people on LiveMocha.com. Several said that they wanted tips on how to sound more British. Those tended to be the ones that had the best pronounciation. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6011 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 6 of 136 30 April 2009 at 12:10am | IP Logged | ||
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The thing is that there are so many British accents, like there are so many American accents; just like there are so many Swedish accents.
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 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6909 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 136 30 April 2009 at 2:03am | IP Logged | ||
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I wonder if it's more a question of rhotic vs. non-rhotic. Most of my classmates have always preferred a slightly "American" rhotic variety (because it has "felt" right, because we'd heard it in movies and TV shows for many years et.c.), but may still have used largely British vocabulary (due to the textbooks we've had).
Cordelia wrote:
Could you elaborate on what you're referring to by "American style accent"? Rhotic? "Broad A"? Flapping? Prosody? I have yet to hear any of the mentioned nationalities with convincing accents (whether "American" or "British"), unless they have undergone particular training with a dialect coach. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| minus273 Triglot Senior Member France Joined 5765 days ago 288 posts - 346 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Ancient Greek, Tibetan | Message 8 of 136 30 April 2009 at 3:22am | IP Logged | ||
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Ideally, I speak with RP-mockney in-between vowels, final glottal t's, for the cool factor, but with American vocabulary as that's what I'd really got exposure to.
My own prosody had turned from British to French, though. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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