Do you prefer British English or American?

[pesic87]

I have always been greatly drawn to British English. It sounds very romantic, sophisticated, lovely. I had a British boyfriend ones, and I picked a lot of words, and British accent from him and plenty of other British friends I have come across during the course of my life, and I so much got used to it that I do not even know how to even try to speak English with American accent.

Especially reading English literature, like Jane Austen, Wordsworth, etc.out loud in British accent, sounds like an inspiration for me; because, usually after I read something like that, even a passage from some novel, immediately I get inspired to write. British accent and English literature have had an immense influence on me while growing up...

[rcdpink]

On 10 April 2015 03:58:29, VNtomboy said:

For me, it's definitely British English. It just sounds classier and more sophisticated to me.

No doubt that the American accent and language is well sought after by many  third world countries. I was grown in the Queen's English environment however  So I most definitely am used to standard English and the British accent. The accent has a commanding presence about it.

[majateaches]

I speak British English, and when I read, I hear the characters "voices" in British accents. For me the voice of British English is David Attenborough (the narrator/presenter of the most famous natural history television shows in the world), his voice makes my knees melt.

However, when teaching a new English Language student,I always ask them if they would prefer to learn American or British English. This way they learn to read, write and speak in the kind of English that they would prefer.

[capuchin]

I prefer British English. It's sexier. LOL. But I really have a hard time understanding British English because of the accent. American English just sounds more neutral that anyone who knows english can understand it when they hear it.

[宇崎ちゃん]

That's not always the case @capuchin.
When I phoned to Nintendo of America for the first time to get development support, we could barely understand each others accents.
But I guess we both got used to it over time.

[OmniHead]

On 4/10/2015, 3:58:29, VNtomboy said:

For me, it's definitely British English. It just sounds classier and more sophisticated to me.

I'm of your same opinion but... in the practice I need to focus on American English because I deal with American people all the time, and my own activities  are American-oriented, whether for personal, business or job purposes.

So that, while I enjoy listening to a British native speaker, American English the language I have to focus on.

[Trellum]

Personally? I prefer the way British accent sounds, I like it much better than american English, but sadly the English I speak is American.  I guess that is because I am so close to the US, and all our TV shows are in american English, no British English    It's a shame, my sister in law does speak british english, but then again her husband speaks it and she grew up in Europe.  Darn! 

[VinayaSpeaks]

The first diplomatic relation that our home country ever had was with Britain. Diplomacy with United States started 50 years later. Since the government highly regarded Britain, it only only imported West Minister style governance model, but also English language. British language is officially accepted by our country. However, later people began traveling to the US and began using American English more.

Currently, American English is used more in the media and British English is used more in schools and colleges.

[reverserewind]

The American one. All the way for it. Just sounds a lot better to my ears. Moreover, the whole major movie industry is based on that accent, as it comes from Hollywood, LA. The same thing with popular music artists. 

[Mary84]

This is a very interesting question! When I started to learn english, I wasn't really giving it any thought and I read stories and books in both American and British english. As a result now I know both and sometimes if I'm not careful I tend to mix them together. I'm familiar with all the different words from both languages and I must say, I like them both as far as spelling and grammar go.

As for the accents, I watch both American and British television but I prefer the British accent though, don't ask me why, there's just something appealing to it.

[sidney]

I would prefer American English since it's easier to understand. I do have to say that while British English sounds sexy when spoken by natives, they have words that I'm not familiar with, so I prefer the American version since that's what I have been accustomed to.

[lingvo]

American english sounds coarser to my ear. I prefer British because it sounds subtler and funnier, but my opinion is clearly biased because I loved Monty Python and IT Crowd. In any case, I understand americans better because they pronounce the "r" clear enough for my spanish native ears. But I would love to speak and understand near 100% british accent.

[reverserewind]

As I see, the British one holds a strong lead here. To be honest, I'm a little bit surprised about that. Does it really seem easier to understand by ear? 

[lisasian86]

As a native English speaker of course I prefer British English! To us Brits American English is butchery!. Although I do concede that our accents vary a lot and I have a hard time understanding some of them so to a non native English speaker it must be very hard. I hate not using u's in the right place...favourite, colour etc

[John Snort]

I don't prefer either. Fact is many people nowadays prefer American English for some reason. I think it has to be the many American TV shows which have made people believe American English is better.

I've always found British English to be a little harder when it comes to spelling some words. Could be it's because I'm used to American English. So spelling wise I prefer American English. But when it comes to listening to someone speak, I'd rather have them speak British English. The enunciation is great.

[Teira Eri]

Although I'm American, I prefer British English. In the professional field of teaching English, I'm often asked if I can use British spelling and pronunciation instead of American. I don't know why this is, though. Perhaps it's the overall quality of speaking. In fact, I'd rather listen to British English and all of its variants than any American dialect. To me, now that I'm outside of America and living in Japan, my own English sounds unsophisticated next to the Australians, New Zealanders and British. It's kind of funny. 

[CosmicSeven]

I prefer American English for a variety of reasons, mostly the u's bug me. I dislike the word colour but I also dislike simple words that use unnecessary and inefficient letters. There is no reason to keep using them, but people do with zero logical basis in mind - it's just a taught thing. 

[宇崎ちゃん]

13 minutes ago, CosmicSeven said:

I prefer American English for a variety of reasons, mostly the u's bug me. I dislike the word colour but I also dislike simple words that use unnecessary and inefficient letters. There is no reason to keep using them, but people do with zero logical basis in mind - it's just a taught thing. 

I disagree with this, words like "colour" are much more natural to me than "color".
I have to use both spellings in web development, though.

I guess it has nothing to do with 'logics', it's more what you're used to write.

[SoManyLanguages]

Since I've really only been exposed to American English, it's the one I prefer most of the time. I do like some British spellings over American, though, and I tend to use those over the American Spelling. Personally, I really like the American accent, and even though a lot of people prefer the British one, I just really like how plain the American accent is. Well, it's plain to me, but that might just be because I'm used to it. I also love the way some words end up being pronounced.

[Linguistic]

I personally prefer British English since it is native to me but as I work with international clients a lot, I am trying to train myself in American english as well while speaking, to ensure I am able to communicate frequently.

 

Once you get the hang of it, it's not that difficult to interpret.

[hades_leae]

On 4/10/2015 at 3:58 AM, VNtomboy said:

For me, it's definitely British English. It just sounds classier and more sophisticated to me.

I disagree, while I do love women from London when they talk, I still think that they are saying many words unclear. I still wonder if this is true because of how we say certain words in English, they will say them differently and it makes me think they are just sounding wrong because of their accents. 

I got nothing against the British, but I just think they sound weird when they pronounce English words. Sexy, but weird.  I'm talking about women, not men. I'm straight.

[Amelie]

I agree with a lot of you here - British English sounds better to my ears, but I grew up speaking American English. It's what I'm more comfortable with and more fluent in. That being said, how charming are some British words? Loo for bathroom, lift for elevator, telly for telephone, "at university" instead of "in college". Also, I just recently became a fan of John Oliver, so British English is definitely my preference these days!

[fcuco]

I am guessing that what you guys are calling "British English" is the received pronunciation, in terms of accents the UK has a rich mixture of very different accents and some of them are quite frankly, pretty ugly. I still prefer the "classic" British accent (or what we now know as a British accent) but I prefer the american spelling of the language, probably because I was more exposed to that and I can't stand words like centre, it is center! 

[reverserewind]

On 17.03.2016 at 8:37 AM, VinayaSpeaks said:

Currently, American English is used more in the media and British English is used more in schools and colleges.

That's true. Though, I don't understand why schools still teach British version If it's becoming less common.

[VinayaSpeaks]

7 hours ago, reverserewind said:

That's true. Though, I don't understand why schools still teach British version If it's becoming less common.

Interestingly, in my home country British English is preferred in school and colleges, where as American English is used in the University, Since more and more people are traveling to English speaking countries,they are importing various kinds of English.