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British Pronunciation - Is there really a difference?

British pronunciation

There is a vast difference between the pronunciation of many words that may read the same in both American and British English, but are pronounced quite differently. When you start to learn and practise English, it may be difficult to understand a British speaker if you are exposed predominantly to an American teacher and American native speakers, and vice versa, if you only use English for your job and you only have dealings with Lloyds of London then you will undoubtedly run into difficulty if you ever decide to take a trip to Dallas, Texas (or New York or wherever, for the sake of example).

The key is to expose yourself (linguistically speaking of course!) to as many different English speaking nationals as possible! Do not make the very common mistake of becoming psychologically dependent on your "Relationship" with your teacher. Your should be making every effort possible to to talk to teachers and students from as many different parts of the world as possible.

The difference between British pronunciation and American pronunciation..

There are actually two fundamental differences between American and British English and while the pronunciation may vary greatly, the language spoken remains the same. It is in fact all English. Regardless of whether you are listening to a Scotsman, and American, and English gentleman or an Irish man, linguistically speaking they are all proficient in the same language, English. The main differences will be in accent and pronunciation.

Accent is the sing-song style you hear (you simply have to get used to it to understand it), single word pronunciation is slightly easier to manage because it is possible to study specific examples of how the same words are typically pronounced in various countries.

There are however several distinct differences between British pronunciation and American English;

1. Accent and intonation or word stress/pronunciation of individual words as already mentioned.
2. Words commonly used in British English and not in American English
3. Words commonly used in American English and not in Britich English
4. Words used in both American and British English with different interpretation of meaning

Fortunately for you, unlike many European languages (Italian is an example), the English language is not transformed so drastically into "dialect" forms according to the region in which it is spoken, forms which are truly separate languages in and of their own right. "Dialect" in European languages is often compared to "slang" in English. In reality it bears no relation because the various dialects can be radicaly different, well beyond a mere difference in accent or word pronunciation as described above.

Please do not concern yourself too much about accents .. British pronunciation, Australian, Irish, Scottish or American, unless you are already speaking English, and ..you have a real reason for choosing one over the other.. if you still can't speak English then this page is not important for you right now..so..


British pronunciation? ... Click Here Immediately! This is what really counts..

....and really, if you can't actually speak English, or if you feel that speaking is your biggest challenge then make sure you read every word!

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