“Should I learn British English or American English?”

Hey everyone, I'm Alex from engVid and today I want to help you answer the question should you

study British or American English if you are starting to learn the language. Now first let

me be clear, English has many, many regional varieties. However, the two that most English

learners are comfortable with or familiar with when they start learning English are American

and British and those are the two that I'm going to focus on in this video. So let's get a few

things clear before we, you know, answer the question. Number one, in terms of grammar,

whether you're studying British or American English, the grammar is 99% the same. Whether

you read an article on the BBC news website or NBC or CNN in the States, you are going to have

the exact same grammar structure, subject, verb, object, adjectives before nouns, auxiliary verbs

before main verbs. So this kind of stuff, it's consistent across the board. What you are really

looking at and what you have to consider when you are studying British or American English

is what vocabulary do I want to learn? What pronunciation and accent do I want to focus on?

So vocabulary includes everyday words, such as lorry and truck, for example, or boot and trunk.

And that includes slang, and it includes idioms. So wherever you go, the idioms, the vocabulary,

the slang are going to be different. And especially in not especially, but also in

English and British English. So let's answer the question. Should you study British English

or American English or both at the same time? Now, it's actually unavoidable for you to, you know,

see both. You will see both. You probably have seen both. Number one, because a lot of websites

online have a.com, it's often difficult to know, am I looking at a British English website,

an American English website, a Canadian or Australian English website? So you probably

have been exposed to both. Also in movies, maybe you've watched American movies, British movies,

or series, or you've watched movies where they have both the English, American English accent

and the British English accent. So really what you have to do is decide where am I going to

focus my studies? Because hearing British English, hearing American English is unavoidable. You will

hear both no matter what you do. But where should you concentrate your studies? And the answer is

actually quite simple. Pick the one that will be most useful for you. What I mean by that is think

of your goals. Okay? So if you are studying British English, and you're trying to acquire

a British English accent, but you want to move to Chicago, that's probably not a good idea.

And I think most English learners probably already know this, and are probably already doing this.

However, I have met some students in my time who want to study British English, for example,

because they really like the accent, or they like the vocabulary or the idioms that they use.

However, their plan is to move to Canada or to move to America. And in those cases,

I have to wonder, why aren't you studying American English pronunciation instead? Because it will be

more useful for you. So you have to think, what are my goals? Am I learning English just for fun?

In which case, pick whichever one you enjoy the most, right? Am I learning it for work? Okay,

so and where do I want to work? Am I going to work for an American company or a British company?

Will I have American clients or British speaking clients? Now, sometimes, of course,

these questions are hard to know. The answers to these questions are difficult to acquire

immediately. But if you do know, if you have a goal in mind for your job, and the types of people

you will be working with, focus on the accent, focus on the vocabulary that will be most useful

to you. Are you learning it for school? Right? So are you going to go to a university or a college

in England? Or are you going to go to a college or a university in the United States, or maybe

Canada, for example? So basically, which one is going to be most useful to you? You have to think

practically when you're making the decision. Number two, for the language that you are not

focusing on, just learn it as necessary. So this means, you know, if you watch a movie

in American English, when you're studying British English, you will pick up the vocabulary or you

can ask a friend or check online. So basically, number one, just to repeat, pick the one that

will be most useful to you. And number two, learn the other one as needed on an as needed basis.

Finally, I want to tell you which version of English you should be studying if you're thinking

of moving or thinking of working or going to school in a few particular countries. So of course,

if you are planning on moving to the United States, it's American English. If you're thinking

of moving to England, it's of course, British English. If you are thinking of moving to

Australia or New Zealand, for example, they have their own regional varieties, their own regional,

not dialects, because they're not dialects, their own regional vocabulary and idioms.

But if you can't learn, if you'd have a hard time finding resources for, you know,

the Australian accent, for example, stick with British English as they are part of the British

Commonwealth. The country that really does not fit this is Canada, where I'm from. So because

we're so close to the United States, and even though we are part of the monarchy, like the

head of state of Canada is officially the Queen of England. I haven't seen the Queen of England

in my life ever, like, I don't know. But anyway, you should study American English if you want to

come to Canada, because Canadian English is much closer to American English in terms of pronunciation,

accent, idioms, vocabulary, than it is to British English. The only part of British English that

we've acquired here that we've taken with us really, is the spelling. So we use British

spelling in Canada. But even that is sometimes mixed, depending on, you know, which autocorrect

we're using on our phones. So yeah, there you have it. All right, so I hope I have helped answer

the question, should you study both British and American English and have helped you to make this

decision? And if you enjoyed this video, if you find what I've said useful for you, make sure to

give it a thumbs up, make sure to turn on notifications and subscribe to my channel,

and leave me a comment down below. What are your experiences? What have you done with British

English and American English in your life? And sometimes, one thing I didn't mention in this

video, but I'll mention at the end, I know sometimes you don't have a choice, because I've

had students who are learning English, for example, in China, and they have British teachers, and they

don't have a choice, they learn the accent of their teachers. In those cases, you have to go with it,

basically, even if you are planning to, you know, move to America, you can still watch American

films, still watch American videos and series and, and, and listen to American music to help you.

And you will learn good grammar, obviously. So if you don't have a choice, I understand it's

more difficult. But if you do have a choice, pick the one that will be most useful for you,

most practical for you. Think of your goals. So until next time, thanks for clicking.

And don't forget to do the quiz that's attached to this video. Take care, guys.