OK, so the English invented English and then the Americans took it, changed the spelling and the way they spoke it. But in a British English v American English accent fight, who would win? Well, the answer I suppose should be given by the students learning English. They are the people whose opinion matters most and their number one issue is ‘Which English accent is the easiest to understand?’ To make a comparison between the two accents, you can hear American and British native speakers talking together here in one of our ‘accent special’ natural conversation podcasts. Who is the easiest to understand in the podcast? There is a famous saying that England and America are ‘two nations divided by the same language’. As you can see in the table at the bottom of this page, there are some big differences in vocabulary. Regarding English pronunciation, there are many UK/USA differences concerning complicated things like ‘intrusive R’, rhotics and dipthongs… but you don’t need to know this stuff unless you are an English teacher. To let us know which accent is clearer and can be more easily understood, please vote here in our poll – it only takes ONE click. [poll id=’66’] To help you make your decision, here are two stylish videos. The first has a great example of Received Pronunciation British English (from a Vogue stylist) and Estuary English (from Posh Spice, otherwise known as, Victoria Beckham). The second video has 2 American designers talking in a nerdy cool way about graphics. Both are great examples of real English accents in London and New York. Please let us know which is easier for you to understand the most.
BRITISH ENGLISH ACCENT
AMERICAN ENGLISH ACCENT
Font Men – SXSW 2014 Official Selection from dress code on Vimeo.
British v American – Same meaning, different words
- BRITISH ENGLISH
- AMERICAN ENGLISH
- trousers
- pants
- toilet
- restroom
- You couldn’t care less
- You could care less
- lift
- elevator
- Aubergine
- Eggplant
- Chemist
- Drugstore
- pants
- underwear
- nappy
- diaper
- trainers
- sneakers
