Teach me English?

Question

My first language is Japanese.

Id like to hear your opinion about British-English and American English.

Recently Im interested in this kind of things.

For example, In case you have no ability of speaking Chinese.
American pple say, I don't speak Chinese. On the other hand,
British pple say, I can't speak English.

What do you think of both English?

Answer 1

Are you talking more with British or American folk? Aim your accent at your audience. The point is to be understood and to communicate.

Answer 2

Both accents or pronunciation (American or British) is after all, English. The language is the same, it is just the way people who came from two different places speak.

I think the same like Japanese (I think okay, trying to find a more relevant example here). The way a woman might speak a certain sentence might sound different than the way a man speaks the same sentence (the woman might sound softer, the man more dominant/stronger). Otherwise, the grammar is still the same. It is the same language spoken in different pronunciation.

No matter which you choose it is still the same. But normally it is more challenging for most non-english speaking people to understand english spoken with a british accent (or even australian accent) rather than the normal american accent (unless the speaker is from Texas or somewhere with a stronger accented american-english).

Answer 3

If your studies are based on a British Curriculum then concentrate on that but if your studies are based on an American curriculum then you have to study accordingly. Teachers -when faced with this- teach spellings etc according to whatever is the given curriculum of the school. Parents choice of school curriculum, thus teachers teach accordingly.

Also whenever you look up a dictionary for study purposes you have to have either a Cambridge dictionary or the American Heritage one ( examples) - whatever suits your needs.

You will notice that there are some differences such as different spellings, different meanings for some words and other things too.

EXAMPLES:

Spelling differences:

British: Colour/neighbour American: Color/neighbor

Vocabulary meanings:

British: Bread .... in American: Biscuits.

British: Biscuits ....... in American: Cookies.

and there is lots more but this is just to give you an idea.

Answer 4

It depends on what accent you like. What concerns grammar, I think american english is shortened. For example the word Color (american) in british english is Colour. What ever the case may be poems and many classic literature sound sweeter with british accent.

Answer 5

A decade ago to learn English, you had to attend costly English classes or purchase course material like tapes and books. Now you can learn English for free from the comfort of your home using the internet. The BBC and the British Council offer a number of online courses which teach written and spoken English. You can also improve your English by watching television programs and reading English newspapers. For more information, visit http://tinyurl.com/qnzpt

Answer 6

depends on the accent you want?