1. To what extent are they different?

3. George Bernard Shaw once said about Britain and the USA : “Two nations divided by a common language” Although there are differences in the English spoken in both countries, it is clear that both British and Americans can understand each other well.

4. If we have a look at both maps we would say that there are more dialects in use in the United States than in Great Britain; however this is not so. There is a greater variety of dialects in Great Britain because it has been developing for a much longer time and since there was an incredible mix of settlers from other places in Europe, the accent differed because of the influence of their native languages. American English fluctuates less than British English so it is more difficult to tell where a person comes from than it is in Britain.

5. Let’s now focus on the differences: Vocabulary: some examples are: trousers vs pants lift vs elevator rubbish vs garbage boot vs trunk Pronunciation: The American variety is rhotic, that is to say that the letter “r” is usually pronounced in any position in words but mainly at the end of the words. For instance, the word car will be pronounced /kɑːʳ/ in BrE and /kɑːr/ in AmE.

6. Other differences regading pronunciation are: The merge of the /w/, /hw/ sound such as in wear- where The T glottalization and intervocalic alveolar flapping. For instance, /t/ produces a glottal stop as in button /ˈbʌʔn/, while the intervocalic /t/ becomes /r/ as in catalogue /ˈkʰærəɫɑg/ or in butter /ˈbʌrəɹ/ The dropping of the /j/ after alveolar and interdental consonants such as in new /nu/ or in student /ˈstudənt/ These are typical of American English.

7. Spelling: Some of the most common spelling differences are: colour vs color, favour vs. favor, where AmE drops the u. AmE words rarely end in –re, they prefer the spelling – er, such as in center, meter, theater among others.

8. Why choosing one over the other? I would say that the choice depends on individuals own goals and perspectives. Many people study English in order to get a certification which will allow them to prove their proficiency at handling the language, and if so, there are many more International British Certifications than American ones. However, American English has gained popularity and it is at the moment the dominant influence because of USA’s economic power, global mass media, their media technology, their popular culture which is bombarding us through sitcoms, series and the film industry. It was A.C. Gimson (1978) who first promoted the idea of an international pronunciation of English. It is my personal opinion, in agreement with Gimson, that people must be prepared to use English as Lingua Franca and thus, English for International Communication is what should be learned, that is to say, differences between both varieties need to be taught.

9. SOURCES: https://www15.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/usgbintr.html http://blog.esl-languages.com/blog/learn-languages/english/british- american-english-differences-varieties/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American Marisa Knye A.C. Gimson – 1978 – “Towards an International Pronunciation of English”