Choose between a British and American accent - ESL language study abroad (2024)

FAQs

Which is better to learn British accent or American accent? ›

Learning British or American English may be preferable if you are looking to work, live or study in Great Britain or the USA. American English is also more widespread, which makes it more desirable for many learners. Otherwise, it is a matter of what you personally enjoy.

Which one? If it's America, then you should be training to learn American English. But if not, then focus on British English because most other English-speaking countries use British English grammar and spelling standards. Do you speak to a lot of clients or colleagues who are from America or from the UK?

In most countries around the world, it's common to hear spoken English on television or in the cinema. For this reason, students may aspire to speak a sort of 'Hollywood English'. Others may consider the formality of British English, the 'Queen's English', the best English accent to learn.

British, Australian, and Irish accents are the top 3 foreign accents people find to be most attractive.

A neutral accent is correct and widely accepted. To clear any voice and accent test, the accent and pronunciation should be globally comprehensible and decipherable to the native speakers of most English speaking nations.

The New Zealand vowel system has undergone what linguists consider a “shift” in pronunciation. This means that a letter, such as “e”, no longer has the same pronunciation that the rest of the English world uses. For example: “Test” in New Zealand is pronounced as “Tist” = /e/ has become /i/.

In some European countries, both kinds of English are now accepted and taught. Some learners prefer American English because they believe it has fewer regional accents and dialects than British English does, experts say, and therefore is easier to understand and to use.

Which is More Popular American or British English? Based on demographic data, British English is spoken by approximately 70 million people in the United Kingdom, and American English by approximately 350 million people in the United States.

The most significant differences between British and American English are in their pronunciations, their vocabularies, and their spelling. There are grammatical differences, too, but these are less important and harder to describe, so we will pass over them for today.

The United States and India have the most total English speakers, with 306 million and 265 million, respectively. These are followed by Pakistan (104 million), the United Kingdom (68 million), and Nigeria (60 million). As of 2022, there were about 373 million native speakers of English.

Which country speaks purest English? ›

According to the renowned American linguist William Labov, the New York accent is often perceived as the “most American” as it's the one that appears all the time in popular culture.

General American English, known in linguistics simply as General American (abbreviated GA or GenAm), is the umbrella accent of American English spoken by a majority of Americans, encompassing a continuum rather than a single unified accent.

Overwhelmingly, people like the Southern accent best, followed by British and Australian accents. Southern accents tend to be thought of as friendly and welcoming, while British and Australian accents are more exotic.

The year 2020 saw the British accent ranked No. 1 on the list. It was crowned the sexiest accent in the world with 25 percent of the total votes. The accent proved particularly popular in countries like China, Sweden, India and the USA.

Option 1: the American accent

The most popular English accent of them all. Spread around the world by American cinema, music, television and more than 350 million North Americans (including Canadians, eh), this is the easiest accent for most people to understand, whether native speakers or non-native speakers.

American spelling was invented as a form of protest

Webster wanted American spelling to not only be more straightforward but different from UK spelling, as a way of America showing its independence from the former British rule.

Due to the unique history of migrations to the United States, American English now contains loan words and linguistic influences from various Native American languages, Dutch, German, Yiddish, French, European Spanish, Mexican Spanish and more.

Is it OK to mix British and American English? ›

Sure. For example, Canadian English has standard spellings that are derived from both British and American influences. Canadian spelling of the English language combines British and American conventions. French-derived words retain British spellings (colour or centre).

The differences between British and American English grammar are slightly more complicated. The differences are small, but they are significant. Verb to have, for instance. To talk about possession, British English uses the verb to have got (I have got a book.), whereas American English uses to have (I have a book.).

It includes all English dialects used within the United Kingdom. Differences between American and British English include pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary (lexis), spelling, punctuation, idioms, and formatting of dates and numbers.

“They had a lot more trouble understanding both accents with background noise, but the British was harder to understand than the American.” “When young, normal-hearing listeners were in quiet, they did just as well with British English as with American English,” she adds.

#1 United States of America

The United States of America is the world's largest English-speaking country. Approximately 225 million Americans speak English as a first language, while 43 million speak it as a second language.

South Africa

Possibly the cheapest English-speaking country to live in is South Africa. Not only can you get by without having to go to language school, but most South African cities also have a high standard of living, similar to Western cities, which will make the transition much easier.

The Netherlands, Austria, and Denmark are ranked the best countries in Europe to live in for English speakers. In the European Rankings for the EF English Proficiency Index, they scored 663, 641, and 636 respectively.

Who speaks the most percentage of English in world? ›

English speaking countries

As a percentage of the total population, the largest share of around 100 percent is in the Bermudas. A total of about 410.4 million people worldwide speak English as their mother tongue.

Received Pronunciation (RP) is the proper term to describe the regionally neutral accent used by many middle-class speakers in the UK, particularly in England. It is widely used as a reference point in dictionaries and as a model for teaching English as a foreign language.

People tend to think a foreign accent is more interesting and more sexy, says Guy Winch, a psychotherapist from Britain who's long been based in the United States, “because in general we tend to value what's less common.” Americans associate a British accent with someone being “more intelligent, more sophisticated and ...

The rich variety of dialects in Britain can to a large extent be attributed to the fact that English has been spoken on this island for more than 1500 years. This long time period has allowed for the language to develop into regional varieties of English.

More Credibility – A study from the University of Chicago states that “people believe non-native speakers less, simply because they are harder to understand“. As you improve your American Accent you will be seen as more credible and trustworthy.

Learnt and learned are both used as the past participle and past tense of the verb to learn. Learned is the generally accepted spelling in the United States and Canada, while the rest of the English-speaking world seems to prefer learnt.

And, you've guessed it, accents in the UK can be English, Welsh, Northern Irish, or Scottish, but there is no such thing as one British accent. Pronunciation is one of the hardest things to learn. In this article, we will explain to you how to do a proper British accent!

The British Accent

The Great British accent proved to be the most difficult of all the accents to imitate – along with the regional Yorkshire and co*ckney pronunciations, in particular.

Geordie. People from Newcastle speak a dialect called Geordie, which is one of the strongest and most distinctive accents in England.

The Canadian accent is most closely related to General American English with similar rules for pronunciation and accent. The main difference is how Canadians will speak some diphthongs (a sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable) higher than their American neighbors.

What accent do Americans like the most? ›

Accordingly, we asked people what the most and least pleasant accent to listen to is. Overwhelmingly, people like the Southern accent best, followed by British and Australian accents. Southern accents tend to be thought of as friendly and welcoming, while British and Australian accents are more exotic.

It's not necessary to learn the British accent. It's actually quite common for speakers of English to have an American accent purely because they'll have had an American English teacher at some point. And it's amazing how quickly people take on the accent of the person that they're learning from.

Which is More Popular American or British English? Based on demographic data, British English is spoken by approximately 70 million people in the United Kingdom, and American English by approximately 350 million people in the United States.

In the main, British English and American English are very similar, even with differences in spelling. In today's world, American spelling is probably winning thanks to Microsoft's spell checker. There are vocabulary differences and some can cause embarrassing situations if you only know one flavour.

British speakers are more prone to use formal words like "shall," while Americans prefer to use simpler words like "will" or "should." The Brits have for long abandoned the usage of "gotten" as the past tense of "get" in spoken form, in favor of "got," but Americans still use it.

Option 1: the American accent

The most popular English accent of them all. Spread around the world by American cinema, music, television and more than 350 million North Americans (including Canadians, eh), this is the easiest accent for most people to understand, whether native speakers or non-native speakers.

People usually achieve noticeable change in their accent, clarity and English speaking confidence within 3 months. A quality course will give you the skills to achieve ongoing improvement.