Are there many differences between British and American English? What do you think?

Question

I´m from Brazil and love studying English!

Answer 1

Yes! I hate to say this, but it's probably better to learn American English. We Brits are exposed to the American version through films and TV series. Americans haven't got a clue. For instance an American woman from Georgia had not heard the word 'lorry' until she moved to Hong Kong. Another freaked out when I proposed teaching the word 'café' to Vietnamese refugee kids. She said it wasn't a suitable word to teach children! Never did find out why. Oh, and if you write in pencil be careful about the word 'rubber', in the US its an 'eraser'. On the other hand, whose language is it?

Answer 2

A few words different here and there doesn't really matter, and there's so so much American stuff on TV that English people are aware of most of the major ones.
What is different is the mindset, and therefore the style of speech. On the whole (alough, obviously, there are exceptions), an English person will be more sceptical, and expect less of people, be unsurprised when nothing works, and almost without fail expect the worst, whereas the Americans tend to be more open and welcoming (Initially, at least). Overall, the people are quite similar when you get to know them, but it is true that English people are more repressed about things.

Answer 3

Its often said that Britain and America are divided by a common language. Althought the vast majority of the language is the same some words and phrases have a very differnet meaning.

mil in american means thousands of an inch which the UK is a thou, a mil in the UK is a millimetere, approximately 0.040 or 40 thou.

Beaver in UK is a (mostly) harmless furry animal that chops down trees, it has a definate meaning in the US

Amercians refer to a Fanny Pack, whereas Brits refer to a bum bag. its the same thing ( a bag that is attached to a blet and worn around the waist. Just don't try using Fanny in polite converstaion with a Brit - its the same as the US Beaver

Generally British English is more inventive, more aggressive at adopting (stealing) new words from other languages. British English tends to use a lot of euphamisims (word or sentance substituitons because they are coy about using soem words and phrases [often relating to sex]). Brits tend to use a lot of cliches

British English makes a lot more use of regional dialects and phrases.

One of the clearet differences is in dates - brits tend to use 8th of August, US tend to use august, 18, 3500 in British english is pronunced as three thousand, five hundred, US woudl tend to be thirty five hundred.

I'd disagree strongly with the comment that US or eveen Californina English was prefereabr, or even more accurate. Effectively English is English, it is a B!!tard language which grapbs words and phrases from all over the world. No one country or area can genuinely lay claim to being the original english. I suspect the preference for Californian English may have more ot do with TV & Films being produced there, so itsw probably the most familiar English to those in Foreign lands.

Still it makes me laugh when a colleague moved to the US and had to take an English exam for his employment - he got heavily marked down for his spelling, grammar and pronunciation (all correct by UK standards but not correct in a US context.

Answer 4

Major differences. The British put stress on syllables in different places, what may be a long 'A' sound in British English may be a short 'A' sound in American English. If you do research into the English language, you will discover that linguistic research shows that the California ( also known as West Coast ) pronunciation is the most correct. That is why most language schools around the world prefer English teachers from California.

Answer 5

The English language will sound different in every culture, between British & American English the bulk of it is the same but there are a few varations (occasional slang) but only the accent's are the biggest diffrence!

Answer 6

Do you have the childrens show sesemee street in brazil. In australia where we speak australian english, we get the american version of this childrens show which has an alphabet bit that goes abcd... all the way to z (which is said Zeeeee) which is kinda funny because we say "Zed". So we have a ZeBRA and they have a ZeeeeeeeBRA

Answer 7

Yes, big differance, I can understand American english, some words are spelled the same, not all, but the British accent is very hard to understand..

Answer 8

Yes, lots!! For example, if you see the phrase "Walk on the pavement" follow the British meaning otherwise you will get run over. 'Pavement' in Britain = 'sidewalk' in America
Whereas 'Pavement' in America = 'middle of road' in Britain

'pants' mean underwear in Britain but trousers in America which can lead to lots of mutual embarrassment.

American English is more like 18th century British English whereas the English in Britain has changed quite dramatically since then.

PS> I hate it when Americans say "gotten" rather than "got".

Answer 9

While the basic language remains the same, there are many differences in "idioms" and "slang." So if you're looking to speak very proper English, you're set either way.

The problem is, hardly anyone you'll actually be talking to on either side of the Atlantic DOES speak perfectly properly.

So when you're gushing over something "really cool" in America, instead it's "brilliant" in England. You'll wear "trainers" on your feet when you go jogging for exercise in London, but you'll be shod in "sneakers" in New York.

And if nature calls, you'll head for the "loo" in Lancashire, but you'll go to "the bathroom" in Boise, despite the fact that you won't be, er, taking a bath in there.

Ask for a vodka and lemonade in Rhode Island, and don't expect a carbonated beverage. THAT drink in the U.S. is simply lemon juice, sugar and water. (It's delicious, but it's not what the Brits consider lemonade.) In the U.S., lemonade is considered a type of "soda" or "pop," depending on where in the U.S. you're asking for it.

And there are tons more of these differences. They're not make or break -- you can certainly make yourself understood -- but they're funny, and they're fun, if you've got a sense of humor.

There are several resources online for further research. Check it out.

Answer 10

Lots of different.Pronunciation, spelling and meanings of certain words. Standard of measurement and names. Words ending with "our" have the 'u" is omitted in American English. Such as honour became honor in American English. Colour =color; valour=valor etc...(But not flour)

Many words changed such as centre=center; metre = meter in American English.

American uses "imperial" System for measurement which were used by the British long ago. Such gallon (litre) , yard (metre), foot/feet/inch/inches ( cm, mm) , mile (Km) fulong etc...

Common different words
Life- Elevator
Lorry-Truck
Lawyer-Attorney

Football means different games in both continents.However we also called football (International) as scoccer.

Even unit of measurement is different and very confusing.
Billion is one thousand million ( 1,000,000,000) in US while internationally it is one million million, 1,000,000,000,000) So sometime people get confused over figures too.


American / British
10(12) trillion / billion
10(15) quadrillion / thousand billion
10(18) quintillion / trillion
10(21) sextillion / thousand trillion
10(24) septillion / quadrillion
10(27} octillion thousand /quadrillion
10(30) nonillion / quintillion
10(33) decillion /thousand quintillion

(--) to the power of --