Wednesday 3 February 2010

British English

At the risk of infuriating the vast majority of British English teachers who insist that British English is the correct form of English, I would suggest that English is just a language. It does not matter where it comes from, or what accent is used as long as it is understandable. This is clearly demonstrated by this advert


This demonstrates that beer helps students master the correct pronunciation. Maybe the good professor from Singapore who conducts phonology classes at CityU could kindly provide huge quantities of beer to assist his students master pronunciation. I would have said that about 99.9999% of English vocabulary is the same the world over. There are small differences between American English and British English, way too small to be of any major significance.
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6 comments:

  1. Kiat3 February 2010 at 21:39

    I haven't seen that ad since i was a child growing up in Britain! I distinctly remember a time when, having watched the ad, my school mates and I would chorally chant 'The wa(t)er in Majorca don't taste like what it ough(t)a' over and over again in the school playground. Brings back a flood of fond childhood memories. Cheers for posting that up, Gibble! (Oh, and yes, English is certainly not the property of the British Isles and you would never find me saying that correct English means British English, despite being British myself!)

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  2. hotrice3 February 2010 at 23:36

    Man, you Brits talk funny. There are just so many different accents. What's with the swallowed /t/ sound? Being a big soccer fan, I must admit I'm having trouble understanding the players and managers. Guys like Rooney, Owen, and Sir Alex Ferguson just make me want to learn phonetics all over again. I've always preferred American English (growing up in Canada). I guess the two countries are really divided by the same language.

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  3. hotrice3 February 2010 at 23:46

    Actually, Gibble, there are some significant differences in vocab between American and British English.

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  4. Gibble4 February 2010 at 01:10

    Would you care to express that as a percentage ?
    Think yourself lucky that when the English took over half the world they exported their language but left their food behind !
    I used to live near Birmingham in England, I asked for directions there and actually wondered if the locals were speaking the same language. As for the Geordie accent, I do not think I would understand it these days !

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  5. Gibble4 February 2010 at 20:08

    There is a variety in vocab in England as well. Most of the time I can understand Americans and Frostbacks (Canadians)so what is the big deal, it is only a language.

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  6. hotrice5 February 2010 at 04:12

    I do appreciate the English for the language they've brought us.

    I think Brits tend to understand Yanks but not vice versa.

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