Seek all the differences between British English and American English! ! ! !

English has only been English for more than 300 years. As we know, English developed from the Anglo-Saxon dialect in southern England around 1400. There are also many letters borrowed from the French spoken by the Normans who conquered England in 1066. Wales, Scotland and Ireland were different countries at that time. The language spoken by people is Celtic. At that time, Europeans didn't know there was North America at all; Therefore, the language used by European scholars is Latin, and English has really become the mother tongue of the British for about 300 years.

Everyone who has come into contact with English knows that English is a language that originated in Britain. It is not only the language of Britain, but also the language of various English-speaking countries. These countries include the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. However, since the Second World War, many countries have become colonies of English-speaking countries, and English has spread all over the world, and its use is no longer limited to these English-speaking countries. Nowadays, English has become a worldwide language. Naturally, internationally, it has become a common language and communication tool between different countries and nations. Especially in the business world, there is no doubt about the enthusiasm for English.

Because English is used as a mother tongue, a second language or a foreign language in administration, education and business, English has developed into a form with the characteristics of various regions and people. English has expanded its scope of use, and two points are worth mentioning: First, the rapid development of science and technology in the past 50 years has led to the publication of a large amount of knowledge in English. Therefore, English has become a superior scientific language, and many people learn English in order to get close to the professional literature in science. Second, English has become one of the main languages in international conferences, organizations and publications.

According to J.Donald Bowen, the author of The Development Trend of English Abroad, it is estimated that 300 million people in the world use English as their mother tongue, and another 300 million people still use English as a second language or talk to others in English when necessary. In order to better understand the differences between American English and British English, we should emphasize that there are two reasons for the number of people using English and the worldwide nature of English. First of all, English is not the only specialty of Americans or Britons or their native speakers. In addition, the more English speakers, the wider their geographical distribution.

Generally speaking, Britain is a very strict country. British people seem to be very strict and regular in dress, dining etiquette and work. Therefore, the public has the same idea about English, and thinks that British English is a rigorous language. The United States is a country composed of British immigrants, and its founding time is short. So in people's impression, the United States and Britain are very different. Americans are more enthusiastic and do whatever they want, so Americans should speak the same way.

In American English, there are many colloquial dialects and idioms, just like our native Minnan dialect in Taiwan Province Province, there are many interesting idioms. Some people may think that adding some dialects and idioms to English conversation will make people feel vulgar or substandard. Actually, it is not. Because if you add some dialects or idioms when you speak, you can make your words more vivid, richer, more connotative and easier to understand. On the other hand, if you speak methodically, not only will you be careful, but others will not be easy to talk to you.

The English used by the British and Americans follows the established rules, but with the progress and changes of social trends, the English used by people in both Britain and the United States has been changing. It is only in the public's impression that American English seems to change faster than British English. But in fact, scholars believe that American English is more conservative than British English in some aspects. In addition, scholars also believe that the biggest reason for the difference between the two is the difference in natural environment. For example: region, topography, flora and fauna, population density. In addition, there are some reasons because the British and Americans have different living backgrounds and social systems. For example: political system, education system.

The American language is also called "English", which seems unreasonable at first glance, because it should be called "English" in Britain. However, because Americans are immigrants from Britain, Americans and British people speak the same language, that is, "English". Although the two countries speak the same language, there are still some differences, but these differences may be obvious to ordinary people, but they do not fully understand the root causes of their differences.

Before 1700, there was no difference between British English and American English, because there was only Britain at that time, and American English did not exist at that time. But later, because some British people immigrated to the American continent, another culture developed in the American continent, and Indian, Spanish, French and black cultures were mixed together. In addition, English is rarely influenced by standardization and unification in speaking and writing. Therefore, there are two forms of English today: British English and American English. With the rapid progress and changes of social culture, English has also changed greatly. It can also be known that the biggest difference between British English and American English lies in pronunciation and letters.

The more people use a language and the wider its scope, the more likely it is to produce differences. Although it is the same language, its system and form are different. In fact, it is not only Britain and the United States that use different English. All English-speaking countries use different English to some extent, such as Canada, New Zealand, Australia, West Indies, South Africa and so on. This is all due to the differences in social culture and national nature of various countries. However, although English used in different countries has its own characteristics, only British English and American English are known to the general public and are borrowed more, so we will study and discuss these two representative and systematic English.

In this paper, the differences between British English and American English are roughly divided into three chapters: pronunciation, letters and culture, and the differences between them are discussed in depth with these three main characteristics. In addition, this study will also analyze the differences between Britain and the United States based on the current cultural and social phenomena, so as to increase readers' understanding of the two.

Pronunciation:

English accents vary all over the world, but this is not a serious problem. Generally speaking, you can easily adapt to the accents of different places as long as you spend some time. Think about it, even in the same country, the same language may still have different pronunciations and accents. For example, the English spoken by people in the eastern and southern parts of the United States sounds very different, let alone people from different countries.

There are obvious differences between British English and American English. In pronunciation, for example, in British English and American English, when it appears before vowels, the speaker will make a sound, but when it appears after vowels, the British generally do not make a sound, but American English speakers will make a clear sound.

Pinyin:

The spelling of British English is slightly different from that of American English, for example:

British English, American English and Chinese.

Center center

Color color

Labour labour labour labour labour

Organization organization

Realize the discovery

Theater theater

Phrases/words:

British English, American English and Chinese.

Autumn, autumn, autumn

Sausages, ketchup, potato sausages and potatoes

Cookie cook

Birollie umbrella

Cars. Cars.

Caregiver or administrator

Parking lot parking lot

chips

fried chips

flat

prime

Pullover sweater sweater sweater sweater

lift

Trucks, trucks and trucks; Big truck

highway

By your Todd, by your own way.

pavement

Gasoline gasoline gasoline

Rubber eraser

Shop, shop, shop.

candy

Faucet faucet

sneaker

Pants. Pants

subway

Boot rubber boots

Zebra crossing

Try to get used to the different usages and accents of British English and American English, and we will learn more.

In listening, we must pay attention to where the stress is and how the continuous reading part is coherent.

At present, candidates mainly learn the standard British pronunciation in middle school, and they are more exposed to American pronunciation in college. Although the difference between American pronunciation and British pronunciation is not clear, there are still some rules to follow. For example, in British pronunciation, r is not pronounced (such as arm, poor, etc. ), but in American pronunciation, it should be pronunciation To solve this problem, in addition to systematic understanding, we mainly rely on listening and speaking more at ordinary times to cultivate the adaptability of our ears. It should be noted that there are also differences between British English and American English in terms of words. For example, autumn is commonly used in British English and fall is commonly used in American English.

If I study American English, is it difficult to understand and understand British English?

If you can know an American, he can know you, and you and an Englishman can know each other.

At present, there are hundreds of different languages used in the world, but only one language is widely understood on the earth, that is, 75% of the world postal services use this language; For commerce, diplomacy, science and tourism; Connecting lines connecting different races; * * * Understanding between different cultures and different nationalities; That's English. Britain is the cradle of English. It is the earliest country where English germinated, and it is also the place where English is used in the purest form. Because American English evolved from British English, Americans have no difficulty in understanding British English, and the language they use is not much different from English from one country to another, or from one country to another, which is why English is one of the international languages.

There are three places to change the English form:

Tone: There are different versions of English accents all over the world, and maybe only a few languages don't have different accents, whether inside or outside national boundaries. The accent of new york people is not only different from that of Londoners, but also different from that of Texans. It only takes a short time to get familiar with a new accent, and it may be interesting.

Spelling: I have given an example above, so I won't give an example here.

Vocabulary: Some words are different in this respect, but an Englishman and an American can talk happily for hours without knowing a word. The more common remittances are as follows:

Gasoline and gasoline gasoline and oil

Faucets and faucets Faucets

Cars and cars

Elevator and elevator elevator

Nurse and janitor manager

Parking lot and parking lot

Sidewalks and sidewalks are humane.

Pants and trousers.

A dustbin/wastebasket

What about the trash can/trash can? garbage can

Apartments and apartments

Highways and highways

Trucks and vans

Autumn and autumn.

Eraser and eraser eraser

Candy and candy

Shop and store Shang branch

Cookies and cookies

Full stop and full stop.

Grammatically, there are also differences between the two:

When Americans don't use articles, British people sometimes like to use them. For example:

British English:

It was a Tuesday and he didn't come back to work until Wednesday.

Conversely, Americans use articles, but British people don't. Like what?

British English:

I haven't been hospitable for six weeks.

In addition, prepositions are used in different ways. For example:

British English: On weekends.

American English: On weekends.

British English: Some parents are talking about not letting their children go to school.

American English: Some parents are talking about not letting their children go to school.

Let's take a look at the global distribution of these two English languages:

Which is more used, British English or American English?

Judging from the current number of people using English in the world, the number of people using British English is about 654.38+0 billion, and the number of people using American English is about 250 million.

Countries that use British English are:

Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Asia and the United States.

Countries learning British English are:

European and African countries such as Portugal, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Australia, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Greece, Asian countries such as Japan (60%), China (influenced by Hongkong), Malaysia and Indonesia, and 70% South American countries.

Countries that use American English are:

America, not the Philippines.

Countries learning American English are:

China (20%), Japan (30%), South Korea and South America (33%).

In fact, there are many kinds of English in the world, not only English and American English. There are many different American English dialects in America alone. If you have been to Boston, new york, Miami, Dallas and Los Angeles, you will find that the pronunciation, vocabulary and even grammar in these places are slightly different from those in other places. Similarly, if you have been to London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Dublin and other places in the UK, you will also find differences among cities.

If you meet an American and an Englishman at the party, you can tell them through their conversation in a few minutes. The most obvious clues are of course pronunciation, such as dancing, butter, no, birds and so on. Not only the pronunciation of consonants and vowels is different, but also the stress position is often different.

British English is good, so is American English. For us foreign learners, this is all.

Want it. We can say it in the way we like. For example, some people like British English and think it is elegant; Some people like American English and think it is fashionable. Nowadays, most young people prefer American English, which has something to do with the development of today's times. Anyway, just remember that no matter which English we prefer, as long as we learn it well, we can communicate with all English speakers, and this will not change. They are all in English, even if there are differences in spelling and pronunciation, they must be ignored. As long as we work hard and study hard, we can master it skillfully and use it flexibly in real life, so that our life, study and career can all embark on the road of internationalization.

The difference between standard modern British English (English for short) and standard American English (American English for short) is big or small, but there is no substantive problem in mutual understanding. The purpose of this paper is to make a general comparison between the two, which can be used as a reference for interested friends, but not as a teaching material for learning another accent. Among them, there are many loopholes. Please correct me if there are any shortcomings.

Vowel:

One of the biggest differences between British pronunciation and American pronunciation lies in the treatment of vowels (schwa, inverted e, in phonetic symbols). In English, voiced vowels often appear in some monosyllabic unstressed short sounds A (such as about) and er (such as computer). Er in American English is rarely voiced, and sometimes voiced vowels are used for short sounds I (such as sentimental and realistic) and U (such as wuss), and even short sounds oo (such as hooker). (The pronunciations of these four examples in English are [i], [i], [u:] and [u] respectively. The pronunciation of voiced vowels is uncertain, but it sounds almost like a hurried pronunciation between "Russia" and "ah".

The most representative difference between English and American English is the pronunciation of er. In English, the short voiced er is the voiced vowel mentioned above, while the long voiced er is just an elongated voiced vowel, which sounds like an exaggeration between "Russian" and "ah". In American English, er sounds like "er" (except for vowels in some common sayings).

Ar: Except for short sounds (such as singular) and vowels followed by vowels (such as clarity), All English Ars are unified long sounds [a:], while in American it is "al". In fact, whenever there is an R at the end of a syllable, American and British pronunciations are usually different, such as tour (English: spit, beauty: spit), tear (English: kick, beauty: kick) and pair (English: pe, beauty: pe). Even in the clarity just mentioned, English ['kleriti] and America [' kler(er)ti].

There is another important difference in the pronunciation of vowels. First, [O] sound: The short sound of O (such as oft) is pronounced as the shortened long sound of O (such as or) in English, while the short sound of American O sounds very similar to the short sound of English [/\]. At the same time, if the long sound of o is followed by r, it is usually children's as mentioned in the previous paragraph, and if it is not (such as plain, apply), it will automatically become.

In addition, the vowelization of vowel combinations such as U and I has been mentioned before, and everyone else will understand it.

Consonants:

English consonants are basically the same as American consonants, but there are some differences in usage habits. Only the following two are more important:

R: The letter R represents almost all the differences between Britain and America. It's everywhere. When pronouncing consonants, the difference is that when R is at the end of the first word and the second word begins with a vowel, English takes R as a vowel, while American takes R as the consonant of the initial vowel of the next word. For example, the phrase "clear animation" is pronounced as "clear animation" in English and "clear animation" in America.

Another obvious difference is D and T. In some unstressed syllables (such as paddle, rattle and realistic), English will clearly pronounce these two letters, but in American English, D and T are often blurred into an inexplicable sound. Compared with other languages, if you know Spanish or Italian, it is very close to the short r; If you know Japanese, the consonants of らりるれろ are very similar. If you don't know, the closest explanation is the side tone L, but it depends on whether you understand it or not.

One more thing, you may find that the pronunciation of O (a voiced vowel) is in brackets in many phonetic symbols. In Britain, influenced by classical Chinese, English likes to omit this O, while in America, this O is often pronounced. If you are interested in classical Chinese or poetry, you will find that many letters of voiced vowels are expressed in single quotation marks, that is, omitted.

Spelling:

There are only the following differences between English and American spelling:

-re and -er: some words ending in re in American English end in er, such as:

Meter/meter, centimeter/centimeter, theater/theater, center/center, etc.

Background: All these words come from French (mè tre, centimè tre, thé a tre, centre). Most other re words are, such as genre, ma -d 'oeuvre and so on. But the spelling of these words hasn't changed.

Our and or: The English part of our is spelled as or in American English, for example:

Color/color, favorite/favorite, etc.

Background: Most of these words also come from French, but they are not so obvious, and many of them have changed because of time. For example, colors are colored, and favorites are favorites.

-ise and ize: English verb -ise is spelled -ize in America, such as:

Organization/organization, realization/realization, realization/realization

The sources of these words are also different:

Organization/institution

Background: These words still come from French, that is, organiser, actualiserr and réaliser (but due to the evolution of language, the meanings of these words in French are not exactly the same as those in English. For example, actualise now means "realize" and implementer means "upgrade and make it obsolete"; Realize now means "realize", while réalizer becomes "realize").

There are other special changes. I can't think of all the conventional reforms at once. If there are any omissions, please add them.

Words:

Some common meanings of the same words in English and American English are different, or the same thing is said in different words, which are mostly related to cultural customs, but have no substantive influence on communication. For example, the word jumper can refer to sweaters in Britain, but Americans rarely use this word to make clothes (it is an outdated word), but use sweater to make sweaters. Another example is jerseys, casual pants, trousers and so on. There are many examples that I can't remember at the moment. Welcome to add.

Common sayings and slang:

These are too many! Even in different parts of the United States, different parts of Britain and different times, they are all different, so I won't give examples one by one. However, the word that can be mentioned is the usage of the word bloody by the British. In the old society where the word f-ck did not exist at all (in the past, it was necessary to add an asterisk F * * to print this word in books, otherwise it would be a crime), the word bloody was as obscene as the word F now. But now times have changed. British children can use it, but Americans don't. But in some other English-speaking countries (such as Egypt and India). ), be careful when using bloody.