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British or American English in Europe | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Vos Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5567 days ago 766 posts - 1020 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Dutch, Polish | Message 9 of 34 03 June 2011 at 9:32am | IP Logged | ||
Just curious Renee, but why are you trying to remove all Briticisms from your English? Simply prefer the American accent/spelling/colloquialisms and culture? (I guess so since you're majoring in American... English/culture? wasn't it?) If so, I wonder, how can you go past Stephen Fry, David Mitchell, The Mighty Boosh, David Attenborough and many many other brilliant shows, documentaries and programs which really highlight and provide some brilliant/hilarious use of the English language? (Peep show, and Fry's documentaries for example) Just curious. Good day! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6910 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 10 of 34 03 June 2011 at 11:49am | IP Logged | ||
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I second Ari's post. British English was (is?) the norm. Spelling, audio, vocabulary... While most learners have a horrible Swedish accent, a major characteristic is the "American" R. When I went to school, nobody wanted to sound posh (=British). Of all my classmates over the years, I think only a handful have spoken non-rhotic English.
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| Fazla Hexaglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6263 days ago 166 posts - 255 votes Speaks: Italian, Serbo-Croatian*, English, Russian, Portuguese, French Studies: Arabic (classical), German, Turkish, Mandarin | Message 11 of 34 03 June 2011 at 12:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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As for Italy... well we/they have the Italian man who went to Malta accent so usually it's not even a problem. At school we are supposedly taught the British accent, spelling etc. but those few that actually do manage to speak the language well eradicating their Italian accents, definitely use/try to use the American one. Unless they've spent quite a long time in the UK on a students exchange, the U to the SA win. Here in Turkey is the same, Bosnia too.
Basically, the omnipresence of American culture through its tv series and songs does much much more than some badly taught British English in 1 or 2 hours a week to not motivated pupils. Edited by Fazla on 03 June 2011 at 12:12pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BCNLanguages Newbie Spain barcelona-languRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4933 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes Speaks: English* | Message 12 of 34 03 June 2011 at 1:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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Here in Spain, even though there are a lot American (and Australian, South African etc) teachers, course materials tend to come from UK publishers and the Cambridge Suite of exams - FCE, CAE and CPE - dominate.
So British English (often with a transatlantic brogue) tends to be the order of the day. Students however are inevitably (and quite rightly) influenced by music and films, so they end up speaking a hybrid! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5454 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 13 of 34 03 June 2011 at 4:04pm | IP Logged | ||
As is to be expected, it's more or less the same in Norway as in Sweden. As far as i remember from when I went to school, British English was the norm and the version that was taught. However, both British and American English were accepted and considered correct. Through TV and movies we are exposed to both varieties, and I think most people are aware of the main differences. Almost everybody ended up speaking some sort of "Mid-Atlantic" English with a heavy Norwegian accent. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ReneeMona Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5336 days ago 864 posts - 1274 votes Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 14 of 34 03 June 2011 at 10:12pm | IP Logged | ||
I'm majoring in English literature and linguistics and I will probably minor in American studies but that's not the reason at all. I actually prefer British spelling because I think it looks prettier and I'm just as interested in British culture as American culture (and I love Stephen Fry!). It's just that I've recently come to face the fact that my once acceptable RP accent has been neglected beyond repair so American is the only dialect in which I have a shot at sounding like a native speaker, but only if I don't use British vocabulary. However, I must admit I'm not as consistent as I should be. A lot of the time I just use whatever word comes up first, especially when I'm talking to other non-native speakers. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6273 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 15 of 34 04 June 2011 at 12:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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Dutch people I have encountered who speak English well often have an English accent that
is hard to place - it is like a heavily diluted American accent, almost mid-Atlantic. It is a clear and intelligible accent but rather colourless. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| spanakopita Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4926 days ago 5 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English*, Greek, Ancient Greek Studies: Portuguese | Message 16 of 34 05 June 2011 at 5:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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When I taught English in Greece I saw the same thing - British English is taught in the textbooks, but because of American movies and tv, the best speakers generally have American accents. There's also the option of taking American English certificates rather than British, and they are generally regarded as easier so they are popular.
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