What is difference between British and American English?
@KashyapWeboo (33)
Jamnagar, India
July 26, 2012 2:37am CST
Hello People,
I am just confused. I want to know the difference between British and American English. If you know the differences between both English then please tell me. I asked this question just because I want to learn English. But I don't know that which one is better. I am poor in English. And I just know little bit basic of English.
Thats not all, also share some useful resources links to learn English.
Thank you.
2 people like this
10 responses
@nikkinathalie (98)
• Philippines
26 Jul 12
well, I myself is not fluent with English, I just can do well averagely. But in my own idea, I think British and American English mainly differs in speaking, mainly on diction and pronunciation I guess, but there is not much of a difference when it comes to writing. Also, when conversing between a British and an American, both may use different terms when referring to a same object or certain area.
Also, in Europe, different country may have different way of speaking and writing English, some may be quite difficult to understand even for Americans and also Asians. Even for American English, they can also be differentiated by regions or state, like southern, New Orleans, and country.
I suggest it is best to learn the neutral way of speaking English and the learn your writing base from written facts and it is best to seek help from English language mentors.
@KashyapWeboo (33)
• Jamnagar, India
26 Jul 12
Hello Nikkinathalie,
Thanks for replying. Yes. You are right, there is main difference between both English is speaking. Sometimes I am confused when I watching some movies on TV, At this time I can only watch a movie or channel with written dialog at end of the screen of TV, it is helps me to learn English and also help for what those people are talking.
Yes, I think I need mentors to learn English. Thanks.
@savagecabbage (1216)
• Philippines
26 Jul 12
DUDE! I think it is the accent that is different. Plus, the British have different worlds for other terms. For example, in America, they say diapers and in Britain, they call it nappies. There also differences in spelling. Like for example, in America they spell color as COLOR. But in Britain, they spell color as COLOUR. But basically, both languages are similar. there are only minor tweeks. happy mylotting.
@KashyapWeboo (33)
• Jamnagar, India
26 Jul 12
Hi Savagecabbage,
The Color and Colour is the common example of this difference. But thats OK. Because it is the main difference of both English. Behaviour and Behavior is also a good example.
Thanks for answering my question.
@savagecabbage (1216)
• Philippines
26 Jul 12
I did not realize that bluedoll already gave the COLOR example. Since she already used that, I'll give a new example. BEHAVIOR is spelled BEHAVIOR in America. while for the British, it is spelled behaviour.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
27 Jul 12
Also: realise/realize - in fact I can't think of a word with ..ise in British English that isn't spelled ...ize in US English. Labour, colour, behaviour, saviour, and most other words like those. Practice (noun) and practise (verb), where in US English both are spelled practise. There are other cases I am sure. (gaol for jail.)
Lash
@katcarneo (1433)
• Philippines
26 Jul 12
Not very much, except for the accent, and certain terms and the spelling of certain words. If you speak British English, you can communicate with an American well, and vice versa. Because in the Philippines our English is influenced by the Americans, the British accent may be troublesome to understand for some. But if you watch a lot of movies both American and British, you will get used to the accent.
@katcarneo (1433)
• Philippines
28 Jul 12
@grandpa_lash The Scottish accent is quite difficult to understand, and oftentimes when there is a character in a movie who speaks with such an accent, I will have to concentrate much to make sense of what the character is saying. But more frequent exposure can certainly help. I work at weddings and just last month our clients were a Scottish guy and getting married to a Filipina. At first whenever he would say something, I had to process it in my head first before responding, lol. I didn't take such long pauses, but there was much concentration on my part. But after talking a lot I found that on the wedding day, when the groom's family and friends arrived, I could talk to them with no difficulty at all!
@KashyapWeboo I know watching movies with no subtitles can be difficult at first, especially if you are trying to understand every single word that comes out of the characters' mouths. Try not to do that, and see the movie as you would a movie in your native language. Maybe at first you'd understand only 50% of the movie, but it will get better and better.
In the Philippines, when you go to the movie theaters to watch an English movie, there are absolutely no subtitles. I know for a fact that in certain Asian countries, English movies must be shown with subtitles all the time, and most people rely heavily on them. But here in the Philippines many actually don't like the subtitles. When we watch a movie on DVD, we remove them. When I'm on a bus and a movie with subtitles is being shown, I find the subtitles distracting and I really try not to look at them!
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
27 Jul 12
It doesn't always work lol - Scots theoretically speak English lol, but I generally dinna ken a word they say.
Lash
@KashyapWeboo (33)
• Jamnagar, India
27 Jul 12
Hey Kat, Thanks for answering my question. I know that watching movies are help us to learn English but some times I need written dialogs to learn that so sometimes I watch "Movies Now", because on this channel we can read each and every dialog of the movies, thats really cool.
@KashyapWeboo (33)
• Jamnagar, India
28 Jul 12
Hey AmbiePam,
Thanks for your answer. You shared another different words. Thanks.
@ravisivan (14078)
• India
26 Jul 12
Accent is different. also a few words have different spelling. For example British english - cheque is check in american english.
British english --- american english
colour -- color
parlour -- parlor
I am giving link from wikipedia on this. please see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_pronunciation_differences
In India we follow British accent of English. Listen to English news channels and you will learn more differences/
@KashyapWeboo (33)
• Jamnagar, India
26 Jul 12
Hello Ravisivan,
Thanks for answering and sharing great resource. And Yes,I am reading and watching news in English daily to learn English easily.
@Bluedoll (16773)
• Canada
26 Jul 12
American spelling is different than British spelling. The word color for example is the American spelling while the British spelling is colour. There can also be subtle difference in the structure of a sentence.
Lauquage is an interesting study but I will persume you are asking which is better because you want to learn English properly. You can focus on using good basic grammar through a course but I also recommend “talking” to a friend, so that it develops easily. Unstructured lanquage can be a little confusing at times but it can be fun too.
@KashyapWeboo (33)
• Jamnagar, India
26 Jul 12
Yes. Bluedoll. You are true. Talking with friends is the fun way to learn English. And yes many times me and one of my friend are talking in English and I also talking with my other online friends on internet to learn English.
Thank you very much for answering.
@CelticSoulSister (1640)
• Southend-On-Sea, England
2 Sep 12
There's little or no difference in the actual language, but sometimes slang terms used by British and Americans are different and when speaking, Americans and English/British have different accents. Also, Americans spell certain words differently, but only slightly - for instance, in Britain we write "colour" whereas in America they write "color". I'm not sure of any resources whree you could learn English on the internet though. Perhaps it might be an idea to read a lot of books/novels which are written in English to get a feel for the language?
@Paper_Doll (2373)
• Philippines
26 Jul 12
I think that the two sometimes differ in spelling and pronunciation. They also have different words that has the same meaning like jelly and jelo. I once attended an English class and our instructor is British. He usually tells us to visit bbc website and watch the tutorial videos in there. Those videos are really helpful and hope you can also benefit from it.
@Paper_Doll (2373)
• Philippines
26 Jul 12
I think that the two sometimes differ in spelling and pronunciation. They also have different words that has the same meaning like jelly and jelo. I once attended an English class and our instructor is British. He usually tells us to visit bbc website and watch the tutorial videos in there. Those videos are really helpful and hope you can also benefit from it.
@KashyapWeboo (33)
• Jamnagar, India
26 Jul 12
Hello Paper_Doll,
Yes. My English teacher also told us to watch some English movies, news and to read newspapers. And yes I also don't know about the same meaning of the words jelly and jelo. Thank you very much.
@monkmano (585)
• Canada
26 Jul 12
Hello!
i am canadian, does that count? well our english is very similiar to americans almost undetectable. we have some words we may use that they dont like 'a buck' is another name for a dollar and we also spell some words in their british or french form for example in canada we would spell 'color' as 'colour'. this is a small difference people may not notice between canada and american speech.
and between england and america, there are these similiar things like some words may be used in one place and not in the other. for example 'chips' in america are potato chips or 'crisps' in britain. but in britain 'chips' are what we call 'french fries'.
also spelling may be different, but small differences like the canada example.
of course it is very hard to tell all of these things, there are many small differences. overall english can be understood across different nationalities once you get the hang of one of them.
the pronunciation may differ in england but beyond any accents most words are uniform.
i hope this is useful and good luck in learning english, i wish i could learn a new language this seems very daunting and difficult.
@KashyapWeboo (33)
• Jamnagar, India
26 Jul 12
Hello Monkmano,
Oh. I just know about canadian is it is similar to british but you told that its similar to americans. So I am wrong.
But thank you very much for answering my question. You differentiate 3 English. Thats cool.
