What city is the best for learning English?

Chicago is out--they have an accent.

Every place has an accent. The question is finding an accent that one considers acceptable to have.

As a native Chicagoan, I'll admit that Chicago has an accent, but many natives speak relatively close to General American. (It's a stereotype of people saying "Da Bears"--at least on the North Side, and the Northern suburbs, I never heard anyone pronouncing ''the" like "da." Maybe Mayor Daley and the South Siders.)

I had a friend--a native Chicagoan from the North Side--who was hired as a TV news anchorman in Wyoming, precisely because of his "standard" accent.

<<I had a friend--a native Chicagoan from the North Side--who was hired as a TV news anchorman in Wyoming, precisely because of his "standard" accent.>>

That's hard to believe. Chicagoans have an accent that'll knock you down. Maybe your friend took speech lessons? He'd have had to, if he majored in broadcasting.

I have to agree. Chicago natives speak in an immediately recognizable dialect.

I knew, for example, that Suze Orman, actor Dennis Farina, and Hillary Clinton were from the Chicago area in just a couple of sentences.

Wasn't it Obama who was from Chicago not Hillary?

Maybe I am in the minority here, but am I the only one who hates the fact that regional accents are frowned upon in the media? I can understand if the accent will cause serious problems with communication, but I believe that most people ought to be able to hold onto their regional accent and avoid speaking like everyone else in the news field. The idea of everyone speaking with the same accent is, well, boring. If we listen to the news in Minnesota, we should be able to hear a good Minnesota accent. If we listen to the news in Texas, we should be able to hear the Texas drawl, and so on and so forth. The idea of a Chicago newscaster emulating Californian speech seems rather silly to me.

>>Wasn't it Obama who was from Chicago not Hillary?<<

No, Obama's not from Chicago - he just spent quite a while in Chicago as a community organizer before moving onto bigger things (i.e. going to Harvard law school).

I WILL SAY THIS...AMERICAN AND CANADIAN ENGLISH IS LIKELY TO BE THE MOST USEFUL IN THE WORLD TO SPEAK. THE REASON WHY IS THAT ALMOST ALL ENGLISH SPEAKERS (I'LL ACTUALLY VENTURE OUT AND SAY THAT ALL) CAN UNDERSTAND AMERICAN OR CANADIAN ENGLISH (WITH THE EXCEPTION OF AREAS LIKE BOSTON, THE SOUTHERN US STATES AND AND THE CANADIAN ATLANTIC COAST); HOWEVER MANY AMERICAN AND CANADIAN ENGLISH SPEAKERS CANNOT UNDERSTAND UK AND AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH. FOR US IT TAKES A WHILE TO GET USED TO HOW ENGLISH IS SPOKEN IN EUROPE AND AUSTRALIA AND EVEN THEN WE STILL HAVE A HARD TIME UNDERSTANDING IT. I'M NOT SAYING THAT OUR ENGLISH IS BETTER THAT THAT FOUND IN THE UK AND ELSEWHERE (AFTER ALL, THE ENGLISH INVENTED ENGLISH), HOWEVER IT IS MUCH LESS LIKELY THAT ENGLISH SPEAKERS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD WILL HAVE A PROBLEM UNDERSTANDING US. WE ARE MUCH LESS ARTICULATE THAN THE UK AND AUSTRALIA HOWEVER I BELIEVE THAT WE ARE ALSO MUCH CLEARER WHEN IT COMES TIME TO UNDERSTAND US. EVEN WITH ALL OF THE AMERICAN AND CANADIAN SLANG, YOU CAN STILL UNDERSTAND US. MANY OF US HAVE PROBLEMS UNDERSTANDING EUROPEAN AND AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH. I WOULD RECOMMEND GOING TO WINNIPEG, VANCOUVER, OR TORONTO CANADA TO LEARN ENGLISH AS WELL AS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, THE PACIFIC NORTHWESTERS U.S. AND THE MIDWESTERN U.S..

Also. Americans dont use high flautin words in their day to day speech. That's a plus point as well. However, my sister in law who was born and raised in Iowa. She is the only American woman that I have a problem with. Her accent is less articulate and speaks some words in her mouth. Comes from Irish and Russian background. I don't know what's wrong with her accent?

What is a 'high flautin' word?

It is highfalutin; typing mistake there. It means to use pretentious, fancy words.

Denver is the best place to learn.
Pretty neutral accent.

''AS WELL AS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, THE PACIFIC NORTHWESTERS U.S. AND THE MIDWESTERN U.S..''

The only two places in the Midwest with neutral, General-American-like accents are Midland cities: Indianapolis (Indiana) and Columbus (Ohio).
Chicago, Detroit, Toledo and Cleveland have a heavy, nasal, accent.
Cincinnati (Ohio) And Erie (PA) are okay as well.