How Are British English and American English Different?

Подробнее о видео

This video is all about the differences between UK English and US English. The differences are not that great, to be honest. Native speakers of either British or American English generally have little trouble understanding each other's speech, especially standard formal speech. But there are minor moments of confusion, and learners of English as a second language might have some trouble with one variety if they have mostly studied the other. Don't worry, though, because British English and American English are both English, and the differences aren't major.

There are some differences in accent. There are numerous accents in both the USA and the UK, but we can generalize by focusing on too standard/formal accents: General American English in the USA, and Received Pronunciation in the UK. One difference is that British English is r-less: they pronounce the word "car" with no R sound at the end, and lengthen the vowel instead. Americans say a clear R sound at the end.

There are also differences in vocabulary. For example, in the UK they say "rubbish" while in the US they say "trash" or "garbage". There are also some little differences in spelling and grammar. All in all, British English and American English are two varieties of the same language and the differences are pretty easy to get used to.

Special thanks to Peter Ashton for his British audio samples and feedback!

🚩Check out Langfocus on Patreon:

Current Patreon members include:

Andres Resendez Borgia, Anjo Barnes, Auguste Fields, Behnam Esfahbod, Bennett Seacrist, Brandon Gonzalez, Brian Michalowski, David Anglin, Fiona de Visser, Georgina Toland, Guillermo Jimenez, Jacob Madsen, John Moffat, Matthew Etter, Michael Arbagi, Michael Cuomo, Paul Boychuk, Rosalind Resnick, Ruben Sanchez Jr, Sebastian Langshaw, ShadowCrossZero, Toki Pona, Victoria Goh, Vincent David, Yuko Sunda, [APG]RoboCop[CL], Adam Fitch, Adam Powell, Adam Vanderpluym, Alberto del Angel, Alex Hanselka, Ali Muhammed Alshehri, Andrew Woods, Angeline Biot, Ashley Dierolf, Atsushi Yoshida, Avital Levant, Brent Warner, Brian Begnoche, Bronwyn Salton, Bruce Schultz, Bruce Stark, Bruno Filippi, Carl saloga, Charis T'Rukh, Christian Langreiter, Christopher Lowell, Craig A Stewart, Dave Orum, David LeCount, Diane Young, divad, Dmitry Stillermann, Don Ross, Donald and Alexandra Wycoff, Donald Tilley, Edward Wilson, Erin Robinson Swink, fatimahl, Florian Breitwieser, Frank Sellers, Frédéric Fournier, Greg Gibson, Haiko Eitzen, Hannes Egli, Harry Kek, Henri Saussure, Ian Smith, James and Amanda Soderling, James Lillis, JC Edwards, Jeff Miller, Jens Aksel Takle, Jerry Janowitz, Jessica Morris, JESUS FERNANDO MIRANDA BARBOSA, JL Bumgarner, Justin Faist, Kenneth M Thomas, Kevin J. Baron, Klaw117, Kristopher Robinson, Leo Barudi, Lincoln Hutton, Lorraine Inez Lil, Mahmoud Hashemi, Marco Barcellos, Margaret Langendorf, Mark, Mark Grigoleit, Mark Kemp, Maurice Chou, Merrick Bobb, Michael Regal, Mikael Uttermalm, Mike Frysinger, Mohammed A. Abahussain, Nicholas Gentry, Nicole Tovar, Oleksandr Ivanov, Panot, Pauline Pavon, Peter Andersson, Peter Nikitin, Phoebe Churches, Pomax, Raymond Thomas, Rick Gerritzen, Rob Hoskins, Robert (Bob) Dobbin, Robert Sheehan, Roland Seuhs, Ronald Brady, Scott Fujan, Scott Russell, Sergei Tikhomirov, Sergio Pascalin, Sergios Tsakatikas, Sierra Rooney, Simon Blanchet, Sophia-Rose Marron, Spartak Kagramanyan, Steeven Lapointe, Stefan Reichenberger, Suzanne Jacobs, Sven Onnerstad, Theophagous, Thomas Mitchell, Tryggurhavn, veleum, William O Beeman, yasmine jaafar, Zhiyuan Shi, Zsolt Márta, Éric Martin, 耳血.


Video chapters:

00:00 Introduction
00:58 Differences between UK and US vocabulary
02:54 Differences between British and American accents
06:07 How are British spelling and American spelling different?
07:28 Grammatical differences between British English and American English
09:09 Examining some sentences
10:06 Final comments
11:01 The question of the day

Music: "Majikk" by Jingle Punks.
Outro music: "Rocka" by Text Me Records / Bobby Renz.