American or English??

[MissMisa]

Originally Posted by Benny

As for accents, a lot of people I know find English-English harder to understand, for example, in American it's "Fish and chips" where in England it's "fesh n' cherps".

Erm, no it isn't. I don't know what 'English' you've been hearing but I can't think of any accent that would pronounce it like that.

[rina26]

My mother learned British english in school, I learned American english (both in Japan)

[Amathev]

In Sweden it's pretty much only British-English.
It's also the one that I prefer.

[Echo]

I used to think it was only an American thing but apparently nearly everyone like the sound of 'British English' as opposed to 'American English'.

I am pretty sure I've been told before but I don't remember so:
anyone have an idea why the accent of the United States' English has changed so much.

[Nikko]

Originally Posted by MissMisa

Erm, no it isn't. I don't know what 'English' you've been hearing but I can't think of any accent that would pronounce it like that.

LMAO!!!
i was thinking the same thing when I read that post!! hahahaha!
fesh n cherps....what rubbish!
lol lol

[Bureda]

Originally Posted by Benny

As an Australian, the American-English seems to be the most common to me.

Apart from Ireland, we are the closest linked country to England and even we don't speak English-English on a whole.

As for accents, a lot of people I know find English-English harder to understand, for example, in American it's "Fish and chips" where in England it's "fesh n' cherps".

So my advice would be to copy the American variations and accent, but whatever works for you!

"Hello, Bruce's Bar N Grill"

Ahh, good ol' Coupling. lol.

[Bureda]

There's a reason British-English is called International English.
Go figure.

[silentscreams]

basically it doesnt matter how you pronounce it. its english i guess.
you know it as you learn as said.
what i find really, well i guess, weird idk.
but um the show "house" if any of you know that show..
hugh laurie(house) is from england and has an accent but he can talk with an american accent (as he does on the show).
and according to some people or magazines or whatever. it is a pretty bad one too. but he has fooled me.
spiffy.

[kaminodaicho]

Originally Posted by Nikko

As everyone knows England and America have different spellings(e.g mum and mom) and pronounciations of words(e.g leisure) and different words for different things (e.g jam and jelly)...so people learning english,what do they learn? English English or American English? or does it depend on which country your nearest to??
Never thought about it before...

first of all, (speaking as an american) english-english utilizes the correct spellings and/or pronunciations of the english language in general. american-english is much less respective of the grammatical rules. when we r told as american children that saying "groompy" instead of "grumpy" is incorrect, what we r being taught is that it is incorrect by american standards. it has something to do with difference in accents but more to do with the correct pronunciation of the word itself. if american-english followed the rules set forth by the first crude speakers of anglo-saxon, germanic, and even latin, then we would all sound english (british!)
as far as saying wierd stuff like "cheerio" and "mum" those things are merely colloquialisms or idioms. cultural slang.
and as for "jam" and "jelly", the real definition depends upon the process in which it was made.

foreigners do tend to learn american english moreso than english-english though. merely because we are seen as economically superior and influencial in that certain country.
in short, it really depends on 2 things: 1) who teaches u? an englishman or an american? 2) can your tongue handle it? depending on what your native language is, your tongue may have an easier time accenting in one english than another. this can also be traced back to breast-feeding. children who r breast-feed will have stronger mandibles (jaws) and may have the luxury of sounding like a native in almost any language they study.

whooo! if all else fails, just do tongue exercises:

[haelin]

Yeah the American and British pronunciation depends on the teacher you're learning from. Some who get degrees from America speak English the American way while the British teachers speak it the British way. I'd say the British way is more formal and kind of polite. But between friends, American is better though.

-haelin.