EnglishClub ESL Forums

SilverFish wrote:Sometimes,I wonder why most people think American English is better. Because the original English speakers are the British.

I am agree with u honey.

I agree with you Maniya. En Language originated in GB. I'm having a hard time with their accent, especially Scottish, but you can't beat the original.

Yes, british is the original English speaker but I find slightly difference between the two. Accent, pronunciation and some spelling differ like summarise(GB English) - summarize(Am English). Both are better.

American english is commonly used all over the world but in the other hand you are also right that the original speaker of english are British.

yahh yahh

Neither is better, because language is just a bunch of sounds put together that some people thought would be good for communication purposes.

The average American cannot understand foreigners at all if they do not attempt to speak with a standard American accent like one you would hear in the Midwest, or even large parts of Canada. I struggle very hard understanding Asian ESL speakers who use the British accent for English, so if you're going to be working in the states or with mostly Americans, go with American teachers.

There are some accents of English emerging that are almost becoming their own language. Those are the types of English teachers I would stay away from, that are going to teach you such a highly unique style of English that only one or two regions would understand you (for example, Welsh valley accent, Geordie accent, certain Irish & Scottish accents). When I was learning Korean, I wanted to learn the Seoul dialect that millions of people would understand, not the Pusan dialect or the Gwangju dialect - just as an example

I don't like to much British english, I always preffer American English. I think British it's too much polite, have other pronunciation and other words. When I heard a British people speaking, the first thing I imagine was a royal people, but when I heard an American didn't happend.
Also British is more easy for understand, they pronnunce better. It's like everyone everyone :)

I think the same as you Elba. British english have more pronunciation and stress syllables than American. At my school, they teached me British english and I didn't like to much. I prefer American. At university I take some subjects of American english and I like it.
When I heard british speakers I think in the royalty of England, and this is the reason because I prefer American English.

I'm from Chile, here whe have a very special type of spanish, we have lots of words wich you only understand if you are from Chile. But I love my country.

I believe, that any of them are better than other, only are different dialect, but for me a English learner is easier to understand and speak American English, but in the other hand British English is more beautiful have a different sound that make it more interesting…

I am English and I am going to say that both are equally good. They are just a little bit different. The most important thing is being clear and able to make yourself understood.

englishttw wrote:I am English and I am going to say that both are equally good. They are just a little bit different. The most important thing is being clear and able to make yourself understood.

I agree. The most important thing is to understand each other :) But I prefer British maybe because of the accent :P

Actually, I think American and British grammar are not that different. But most people prefer American English because it is more easy to speak. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_American_and_British_English

I absolutely hate American English, it seems its everywhere now and it simply drives me to distraction.

All languages and dialects are good. We can't say any language or dislect is better than the other. It's the same about accents. So both American and British English are good and if you live in a country that English is not your first language you can choose between theses two because both of them are perfect.
British and American English mostly differ in pronunciation.Sometimes, they may have different words for expressing the same meaning and sometimes the same words are used to express different meanings in these two accents.

Hi,

American English has many expressions/ terms/ words and even sayings that are not used in British English and vice versa.
Regarding the accent differences; both the General American and Standard British accents can be understood by a wide variety of non native English speakers, since they are very 'clear' (meaning they are devoid of various local accent influences and are therefore kept 'general'), so that anyone who speaks English with either one of those accents would have a 'non specific' geographical origin (ie, it would be hard to tell where that person is from)- other than that they have a 'general' American or a 'general/standard' British accent.

If you have any other accent related questions, please feel free to ask.

Michael Andrews
Dialect Coach

There are numerous words that are spelt diversely in both types of English. A few cases are:

American English
1. Analyze
2. Color
3. Center
4. Anesthesia
5. Fulfill

British English
1. Analyse
2. Colour
3. Centre
4. Anaesthesia
5. Fulfil

Scrabble word finder..