ESTUDIOS INTERCULTURALES EN LENGUA INGLESA I

Prof. Patricia De Franco

British English is the language spoken in Britain. There are different accents within
Britain: A person from Liverpool doesn´t have the same accent as a person from
Manchester or West London. And there are different varieties of English outside
Britain, for example in the ex colonies of the British Empire like The USA, Canada,
India, Australia, South Africa, etc.

Today we are going to focus on the differences between British and American
English. Even though the language is the same, we find some clear differences
which let us identify one or the other.

The most important or obvious difference between American and British English is
pronunciation. In American English the “r” is pronounced, while in British English it
depends on the position of the letter.

The “t” is strong in British English while in American English it is softer or more similar
to a “d”.

Take the case of water, forty, party, twenty.

Use this website to check!

https://howjsay.com/search?word=water+

Also some vowel sounds are different. For example, in British English the “o” in clock,
dog, God, hot, etc, is pronounced /ɒ/ but in American English it is like more similar to
a Spanish “a” sound.

Check!

Some sounds change completely like in schedule or brochure, privacy or vitamin.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/pronunciaci%C3%B3n/ingles/brochure

How do you say TOMATO?

Another important difference is spelling. Have a look at these differences:

AMERICAN BRITISH

FAVOR FAVOUR

COLOR COLOUR

TRAVELER TRAVELLER

DIALOG DIALOGUE

CATALOG CATALOGUE

THRU THROUGH

American English tends to be more practical and attached to pronunciation while

the conservative British like keeping words the way they are.

Vocabulary is also an issue. Sometimes, people use a word to name different things.
Others, they use different words to name the same thing.
Examples:
A BILL
For an American, bill is the electricity bill, or the name of paper money.
However, for a British person, a bill is also the electricity bill, but it is what you have to
pay when you eat at a restaurant, or have a coffee at a cafeteria. What do the British
call their paper money? Banknote or note.
SWEETS OR CANDY?
American English use candy, which is uncountable. Candy is bad for your teeth.
British English use sweets, which is countable. How many sweets can I eat, mum?
There are also differences in some grammatical items, not a lot. For example for
experiences, American people tend to use the simple past while the British use the
present perfect:
Did you ever see a UFO? American Have you ever seen a UFO? British
These are some of the most common differences between American and British
English. There are more details.
To start understanding the differences, the ones presented here are enough. There
are some activities for you to work with the internet of a good dictionary.
Try to solve them, don’t send anything because you will have feedback for this.
Watch the videos on youtube and learn more.

Why is it important to learn the differences between American and British English?

For the simple reason that you have to choose ONE variety and stick to it. You can’t
speak or write using both at the same time. It’s awful.
Imagine what happens in Spanish. We speak “español rioplatense”. A person from
Mexico or from Spain uses different words and has different pronunciation. The same
happens in English.
Calcetines, playera, pastel, and all the words that you have heard on TV programs
are understandable for us but we don’t use them. Have you ever heard somebody
here saying “Qué bonita playera traes”. Never. The same happens in English. People
understand what you mean but they don’t use the same words probably:

British: I need to iron my trousers

American: I need to press my pants.

Watch the videos, try to do the activities and we continue with this next week. I hope
you learn a lot and enjoy it.
Can you read this story in British English?
The woman in shades - (A short story in American English)
It was a cool fall afternoon in Manhattan. The woman turned off the faucet and looked
at her face in the bathroom mirror. ‘I’m going to go to the movies this evening,’ she
thought, and smiled. Ten minutes later, she took the elevator to the first floor and left
the building. She was wearing a long, black coat, a hat and a pair of shades.

Outside the building she stopped for a moment and looked at all the noisy automobiles
and trucks in the street. Next she looked at the people on the sidewalk. There were so
many of them. ‘Is this a good idea?’ she asked herself. Then she put her pocketbook
under one arm and called a cab. ‘Of course it is.’

The journey to the movie theatre took five minutes. In those five minutes the woman
realized that she still loved New York. OK – her apartment was cold in the winter. Yes,
there were a lot of crazy dangerous people in the streets. Everything in the stores was
expensive. There was garbage everywhere. It was all true, but... well, New York was
her home.

At the movie theatre there were only thirty or forty people in the audience. The
woman sat in the back row and ate a candy bar. Two minutes later the movie began.
Then, and only then, she took off her shades.

It was a good story. She remembered it well. She even remembered some of the
dialog. And then, of course, there was the actor with the black hair. ‘He was my
favourite,’ she thought. ‘I really loved him in the ‘30s.’

She left quietly a few minutes before the end. Another cab? ‘No,’ she thought. ‘I’ll take
the subway.’

At ten of eleven she was nearly home. She felt happy. ‘That was fun,’ she said to
herself. The front door of her building was just three feet away. She took off her shades
and looked up at the stars for a moment. It was only for a moment, but that was long
enough. A man on the sidewalk stopped. He came towards her.

‘Excuse me, he said, ‘but aren’t you...?’

‘No!’ said the woman. Her voice was cold and hard. ‘No. I’m not!’ Then she put on her
shades again and walked quickly into the apartment building.