Of course there is no need to learn British English and nobody said it was better than American English. My argument is with those posts that make suggestions such as "remove your British input" and similar. When I hear suggestions like that, I think those who propose them are unhinged. And please don't anybody suggest I am misunderstanding anything because that is just patronizing. I am a well-educated and intelligent native speaker and if I have misinterpreted anything any of you have said then it is because you have not expressed it clearly enough.
One final thing I would like to say on this topic: When I (or other native speakers) talk about learners having American (or British) accents, we don't usually mean that you talk exactly like a native speaker. We simply mean that you have picked up the American intonation and a few of the phonemes. We can hear the American in your accent but what you have is a hybrid accent which reveals that you have studied from an American teacher and is generally less attractive than the accent you started with - at least to non-Americans.
well think either british or either american english, one of them has to be selected as international standard english. one standard english, because u know its prettey confusing our text our language our vocab everything is influenced by both of thm and at times its so irritating so better to choose one doesn't matters which one but please stick to one
If you want to speak American English you don't really need to learn British Pronunciaton but it would help if your learn Canadian pronuciation.
In my oppinion American English is by far much better than British as most people speak american and the only place where the British is spoken is in Britain.
It is controversial to say that American is 'better' than British or vice versa. If more people speak American than British, then this is a fact and this fact can be stated instead of writing that American is 'better'.
I wonder if anybody will find my usage of 'better' controversial:
I would say that British is better than American for reading aloud The Lord of The Rings.
o.k you are right I maybe didn't use the right word as I don't express myself in English very well, what I wanted to say is that becouse of American English is more spoken everywhere you maybe could understand American English better than British English(that's my case).
British and American english do have many differences, but one is not easier to understand than the other...they are not THAT different!!!! And american english came from british english so dont bash it!!!
There is a difference between the two.I intereact with both Americans and
the English everyday.To me,the Americans sound more clear than the Brits.
Infact,I've had a training in American accent in India.
I study english filology and everybody speaks british english.Why?
they look at me as if i was from other planet.I speak maybe not pure but still american englishmand I have only problems.On Sunday i have a test wiyh phonetic and I should use british transcription.why?
I think that accent is a matter of style. Just that.
The real important point of English is his universality.
As a good jeans, can be straight style, or loose style, but hey, the main point for jeans is to protect our body from the environment and to be comfortable wearing it.
The style? Who knows, it is up to you.
For me?, I love the way the Elizabeth Hurley's british accent sounds, she sounds elegant.
or the serious tone of JAmes Earl Jones....
So?. Understand both accents, but Learn the accent that you want , and try to be consistent using this accent.
I didn't follow this thead completely, so someone might already write a similar post. In that case, please for give me.
I think a learner of English language doesn't have to be nervous about the difference of British and Amercan accents unless he or she wants to be mistaken for a British or an American. If one's purpose is to communicate mostly with Americans, it's better of course for him to learn American accents. However, even in that case, I think it's not a problem that he mixed some British accents in his English as long as the British accents are standard ones.
I feel more comfortable when I speak English in a British accent especially when I pronounce the letter (R) where I think it is a bit difficult to pronounce that letter in the same way Americans do.
can someone please tell me how i can tell the difference between british accent and english(european; not american) accent? i am very interested in this. thanks
Personally, I don't think you need to learn or be familiar with British English in order to speak American English because the prenunciation is very different between both dialects but one thing a person should know before learning American English is that American Enlish evolved from British English.
