A question for europeans.. Do you speak American?

Question

When you speak to an American do you use different words so they can understand you?
eg: sidewalk instead of path, elevator instead of lift, fries instead of chips, chips instead of crisps... etc etc
I meet a lot of americans in my job, and I have to speak american or else they dont know what the hell Im talking about.

Answer 1

When I lived in America a few years ago, I not only had to say "sidewalk" and "elevator", I had to pronounced 'butter' like "Berrrrrrr", or else everyone in the coffee-shop would fall about saying "But-tah? Did you say But-tah?"
Same for Tomayto!
When in Rome! I came home after two years with an American accent!

Answer 2

When I grew up I learned English from American soldiers children I used to play with. When I came to school I spoke better English than my teacher (who was Bavarian -sick) but because I spoke with an American accent I got bad grades.
After I spend 11 years in England and I have to say that after five years I suddenly realised that I understood the under-swelling meaning of certain things people are talking about i.e. the Irony and the sarcasm that comes with living in England.
Now I teach English and many people still prefer Americans as their teacher but the way they speak i.e. majoring instead of studying makes my skin crawl.
I love the English language and England, but American English is something like a melting pot of different languages.
Take 10 people who speak crap English and give them 20 Chewing gums and let them get on with it.
Sad because America has such a bad influence on the rest of the world.
Let's bring the Level down.
Thanx Mikrosoft!!!

Answer 3

No, I speak English, I live in the UK and try not to us Americanisms.
When I have been to the States or Canada I have tried to use American words, but it always sounds wrong and it annoys me that most people outside Europe are taught "American" not English

My Dad Had the best one though at Denver Airport, He was taking a Vase over that my Nan had left for his Naturalized American Sister.
He spent about a good 15 mins in the "goods to declare section", trying to explain to the Customs Person, as of cause in the UK it is pronounced "varse", eventually having to fish the thing out of the suitcase. To which customs said in a particularly thick twang "oh, you mean a "vase"".

Answer 4

As an American citizen travelling in Australia (I know this isn't directly what you were asking about) I usually try to use Australian slang/vocab/colloquialisms as much as I can.
Chips instead of fries, lift instead of elevator (as have been mentioned already), trolley instead of dolley, rubbish instead of trash/garbage, root instead of f*ck, and so on.
When you talk to a Mexican and you know a little Spanish and they don't understand what you're saying... do you try throwing out some Spanish vocab? These conditions apply to me when I am living in San Diego and it helps both parties to understand each other.

Answer 5

I'm Icelandic and I can speak both American English and British English and I switch between them depending on who I'm talking to. I use American English when I talk to Americans or others who speak American English. I use British English when talking to British or others who speak British English. Before I started doing that I encountered Americans who thought I was speaking weird and misunderstood me because some words had different meanings when I tried British English on them and when I used American English when writing to British people I got asked why I don't use proper English and got lessons/rants about how to write properly, as if American English was flat out incorrect for not being exactly like British English.

Do you see why I prefer switching between them nowadays? It's much simpler. People will actually listen to WHAT I'm saying and not HOW I say it and they will understand me too! :)

Answer 6

Yes. I have to deal with a lot of Americans in my work and I find I have to speak slowly and use certain words and pronunciations to be understood.

Not saying they are thick but I talk quickly and it seems they find this hard to digest.

Answer 7

the language American <-- is stupid, u fools took English and changed certain aspects of Grammar as it was too difficult to get your head around it. Also you decided to add 'z's onto anything with an 's' because it sounded like it...

Answer 8

Sure do.

Answer 9

I know what you're talking about--don't categorize us all as morons, please.