I'm brazilian and I like so much hear the britain english, but it from america is more popular....=/
2006-09-29 06:14:16 · 24 answers · asked by ? 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
In British English we have adverbs and a variety of tenses. In American English adverbs have been more or less abolished and the present tense seems to be used for everything.
In British English we have a rich assortment of adjectives. In American English everything is "awesome".
In British English we like to get to the point. In American English they "like sort of kind of like well, go by some alternate route". (The last word is pronounced "rout". In British English that is a word applied to defeating one's enemies so that they flee before us.)
In British English we like to speak in a well modulated tone. American English is commonly shouted at the top of one's voice.
Speakers of American English use many antiquated words and expressions that we stopped using centuries ago, such as "I guess" and "I reckon" and "comforter" and "gotten" as the past tense of "get".
It is hard, with American English, to distinguish between the vowels used, in particular "a" and "e". "Pet" sounds much like "pat" to the English speaker's ear.
There are many, many other differences. I firmly believe that but for films and television the British and the Americans wouldn't be able to understand one another any more.
2006-09-29 06:31:05 · answer #1 · answered by Doethineb 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Look at Wikipedia "American and British English Differences".
It's long and very technical, but it will give you an idea of how many differences there are (though not as many as between Portuguese and Brazilian).
A famous Irish writer, George Bernard Shaw, said, "Britain and America are two nations divided by a common language". This means that although we think we speak the same language, we often misunderstand each other.
2006-09-29 06:34:29 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hi Almdan There is quite a bit of difference, naturally accent and some spelling is different. Check out the comic strip in Yahoo "Get Fuzzy". They have a cat visiting from England in the last few strips, you can scroll-back and read most of them. Yes the upper class speak similar to us but the average guy on the street you won't understand. I have met quite a few English guys on my trips to Russia and have a very hard time understanding what they said. Some sound like they have marbles in their mouth! Trust me, they swear more than we but we don't understand the words. Sure the TV talking heads clean it up and speak as we do but if you visit an English pub you wouldn't understand much!!
2006-09-30 14:59:10 · answer #3 · answered by devilspayment 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi dear friend!I'm sort of person who loves to speak about the differences between British English &American English,I'm Iranian,a girl,&I love the way the British speak!well,they pronounce"r'just when it is followed by a "vowel",otherwise they miss saying that.there are some other differences too.sometimes they use different words &sometimes different spelling&sometimes different pronounciation!for examople for the word"avelanche"they have different pronunciation(you can look it up in the dictionary & see the different phonetic signs used in British & American)I can let you know even more about it(of couse if you want to keep in touch with me!)I'm an English lover!
2006-09-29 08:23:26 · answer #4 · answered by afsane r 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You've seen many of the differences in words mentioned before -so I won't repeat them.
More to the point THIS is YAHOO UK & IRELAND...so WHY do the (US staff?) censor a perfectly acceptable ENGLISH word (in UK) for a cigarette - F A G?…this NOT offensive in the UK!!!
So you see the famous Shaw quote ’…Two nations divided by a common language’ still applies.
PS I think the previous poster is a bit confused about this word - they've got things completely the wrong way around!
2006-09-29 07:59:19 · answer #5 · answered by Mr Crusty 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In England we have descriptive words such as pavement but in America they take two small words and combine then such as sidewalk. They leads to a more functional but less elegant the language.
Also a lot of vaguely rude sounding words were removed from the American language in the 1900's such as cockerel being replaced with rooster.
My favourite issue is fanny which in American is the bottom but a lot ruder in English English
2006-09-29 06:23:58 · answer #6 · answered by bobobob 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
A lot of American spelling of the english language is different, for example
English - Colour
American - Color
Another difference is the names for things, we call underwear pants in England, whereas is America pants are trousers.
2006-09-29 06:23:37 · answer #7 · answered by Not called Katie 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There is no European english
There's English and American English, which is a downgrade from English
2006-09-29 07:32:51 · answer #8 · answered by robbie_101_2 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
European english seems a bit more proper than American english.
2006-09-29 06:21:56 · answer #9 · answered by HondaGal 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
English trousers = American pants
Eng. pants/boxers = Am. shorts
Eng. shorts = Am. short pants
confused yet???
Eng. waistcoat = Am. vest
Eng. pavement = Am. sidewalk
Eng. boot (of car) = Am. trunk
Eng. bumper (on a car) = Am. fender
Eng. bunker (in golf) = Am. sand-trap
Eng. torch = Am. flashlight
In English, a rubber is an eraser but in America it's a condom. Whoops - you have to be a bit careful who you are asking.
Yes it is very different; two nations divided by a common language - who said that?
Then there are the accents.....
2006-09-29 06:31:24 · answer #10 · answered by Rozzy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋