What do people think about how US English is slightly different to UK English? Which one is the best?

Answer 1

I think that's an interesting question. I think a lot of people in the U.S. think that English English sounds better and more interesting. Many people in other non English speaking countries, think the English to speak is American. I encountered that several years ago when a friend and I were staying in London but in a Spanish hostel. Many of the girls wanted to learn how WE spoke English and didn't like speaking the English English they were exposed to while working in London. We were amazed!

Answer 2

I enjoy learning the UK English from my online friend but don't like it when he says it is better. It would be boring if everyone spoke exactly the same. Mostly it is the same words just a few with different meanings and spellings anyway. Neither is best just what is right for where you live. Even in the US the English we use differs depending on what state you are in.

Answer 3

Actually in answer to the person who said that UK English is the original English... yes that's true. But it's also true that when the English went to America they took their language with them and in many parts of the USA it 'froze' while changes occured back in the UK. So, often US English remains more true to original English English than modern English spoken in Britain.

I am an English teacher in Spain and I think that all Englishes are valid. If my students could perfectly imitate me (Yorkshire accent) they would be praised the world over. Equally if my Californian colleague's students spoke like her...

The truth is that there are many many more non-native speakers of English in the world than native, and by that I mean those born with English as their mother tongue. Huge numbers of people use English because they have to for education or just to communicate in a country where there are so many different languages (like India for example). This idea of English as a lingua franca is at the heart of the answer to your question: if we can communicate using English (US or UK) it's cool.

Answer 4

English is my 3rd language (or should I say 3rd, 4thth and 5th)? I started by learning proper Oxford English in school, then studied in an English shcool in England, then lived in various different states in the US where I had to learn different accents and different meanings of words and of course different spelling (color/colour etc). This all lead to me not being able to speak/write either the US or the UK English properly anymore as I got it all mixed up so maybe I should just start learning Italian or something and forget the English.

Answer 5

The purpose of any language is to get an idea across, so if you are able to do that, then your language is perfect.

For example, the Inuit need upwards of twenty words to say "snow." Sounds silly to other people, but they must think that our languages are very poor indeed because we only have one word for such a complex idea.

Also, you have to ask, what kind of British English? because there are as many dialects or more as there are in the United States.

The very idea that one language or dialect or manner of speaking can be richer or poorer than any other is bollocks. Or crap if you're in America. But the essence is the same.

Answer 6

In some respects, American English is closer to "original" modern English than British English. Here is one example of many:
"In the early 1800s, another smaller vowel shift occurred in British English, between an older /æ/ and a newer /a/ before certain consonant clusters. Say the words "gas mask." If you are a native speaker of American English, you probably have an /æ/ in both words. Speakers of the RP, by contrast, have /æ/ in "gas" and /a/ in "mask."
So the familiar /a/ in British English is actually a late development. Now, you know. But will THEY admit it?

Answer 7

There is no wrong and right, its like an accent different words etc... There is an Spanish accent and an English and an American one... Every country has 'the accent'...

Its not THAT different, I mean if an American came to England and vice versa they would still understand without taking any courses but if the Spanish person came (or vice versa) they would definitely need an course....... If ya get what I mean...

What is best, spanish, English, Italian, Turkish, Irish? Thats what you are asking us, there is no best.

Answer 8

UK English is the original English.

That said, there are scores of different dialects in the UK, they're all very different, so there isn't really one UK English. The Queen's English I think is technically correct, but very few people speak like that.

I think the verb 'to buglarize' sums up US English.

Answer 9

I have heard it said that American English is closer to 'old english' than the modern english spoken today. Its not a question of 'what is best' more'whatever floats your boat', at the end, we understand each other, english has become a world class language.

Answer 10

English English of course. It's the original.