British vs American English: 4 Key PRONUNCIATION Differences You Need to Know

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- Hello, this is Jack from ToFluency.com

and welcome to this English lesson

where we're going to look at four of the major differences

between British and American English

when it comes to pronunciation.

So we're going to look at these differences

and we're going to show you lots of examples,

some graphs as well, which I think are really interesting.

And this is just going to help you understand

the major differences between these two variants of English.

So just before we do go into these differences,

know that I am originally from the UK,

but I've been living in America for nearly nine years.

So I do have some experience of the two variants of English

and I'm going to try my best

to put on my American voice in this lesson,

but don't be too harsh on me

if you think it's not very good.

So the first difference is the R sound.

And generally speaking, American English

has the R sound

more than it does in British English.

So American English is rhotic

and British English is non-rhotic.

And that just means if you use the R sound or if you don't.

So an example is car, car.

So in British English you'll hear car,

no R sound at the end.

In American, it's more like this, car, car.

So when the R follows a vowel sound,

it's often omitted in British English.

We're going to look at a graph in a moment

which really highlights where in the UK this happens,

but after a vowel sound, it's often omitted.

For example, heart, park.

Whereas American English,

you will hear heart, park.

Another example of when it's dropped

is after the schwa sound at the end of words.

So for example, in British English

you will hear computer, lawyer, sister.

Whereas in American English, you'll hear

a slight R sound at the end.

Computer, lawyer, sister.

The first graph I want to show you is this one.

And it shows the difference

between the 1950s and 2016

using data in the UK and highlighting

how many people pronounce the R

in arm, or arm.

So this is talking about non-rhoticity.

So if it's green, then there is no R.

If it's red or orange, then there is an R.

And you can see how much this has changed since the 1950s.

So the southwest and the northeast and northwest,

where I'm from, used to

pronounce the R in certain words.

Whereas the other part of the country, they didn't.

But nowadays you can see this divide

where England and Wales is non-rhotic.

So they don't pronounce the R,

whereas Ireland and Scotland more or less do,

well in some areas, it's about 50%.

So when people say that the UK is non-rhotic,

that's not entirely true.

In the U.S. you can see there are only pockets

where the R is pronounced.

So in Louisiana,

around Charleston and Savannah,

near Richmond, Virginia, Norfolk and Hampton,

New York and also New England.

So generally speaking, the U.S. is non-rhotic,

but in some areas, the R is left out

like it is in England.

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Now the next sound is on your screen now.

And this is a vowel sound

which is common in British English,

but you won't really hear this in American English.

And I'm going to show you some examples

of what vowel sound Americans use instead of this sound.

But just listen to these words, hop, long, lot.

So it's the au sound, lot, au, au.

Let's go to the Cambridge Dictionary

the look at what Americans say instead of this sound.

So here we are on the Cambridge Dictionary site

and let's listen to hop and hop.

- [Computer] Hop, hop.

Hop, hop.

- [Jack] So you can see the difference.

Hop, hop, hop, hop.

And with long.

- [Computer] Long, long,

long, long.

- [Jack] And my favorite one is water.

So look at the differences here.

And listen for the differences, too.

- [Computer] Water, water, water.

- So water, water, water.

The vowel sound is different.

The D sound in American English,

and also, the R at the end of the word.

Now before, you might have noticed that I said long.

And this is the N-G sound, but where I am from,

we tend to use the G at the end

instead of the ng sound, okay.

So the standard version is long,

but we tend to say long.

And this is also true in some areas of America,

such as New York.

So that's just a very regional difference

when it comes to this sound.

The next one is the T sound.

And in American English, the T sound is often pronounced

as a short D sound in the middle of certain words.

For example, in the UK we say Katie, Katie.

There's a strong T sound, Katie.

But in American English, it's more like Katie, Katie.

And I find that British people who move to the U.S.

soon start doing this.

So this is the first Americanization,

if that's the right way to say it,

of British people when they move to America.

So they'll start to say Katie, instead of Katie.

Another example is butter.

So in American English you'll say butter.

And there are two differences here.

First the T sound, sounds likes a short D.

But also did you notice the R at the end?

So again, British butter, butter,

butter, butter.

Now the final one is used at the beginning of this word.

So just say this word and then

we'll look at the differences in a second.

So how do you say this?

In American English, the T sound is used, Tuesday, Tuesday.

Whereas in British English,

we use the ch sound, Tuesday, Tuesday.

I have found myself saying Tuesday instead of Tuesday.

Again, this is another influence

of living in America for so long.

There are certain words and sounds that you start using

once you get used to the accent.

Another example of this is tuna, tuna.

Whereas in the UK you will hear tuna, tuna.

Okay, question time.

I actually have two questions.

The first one is this, which accent do you prefer?

So do you prefer to listen

to British English or American English?

And think about which one is easier for you, as well,

when answering this question.

And then the second question is

can you think of any more differences

between these two variants of English?

So think about it in terms of pronunciation,

especially can you think of any other differences?

So you can put some words down there.

You can put some sounds.

Whichever way you want to do it,

just highlight them in the comments section below.

And if you have found this lesson useful,

then please like and share it with your friends.

Thank you again for watching,

and I'll speak to you soon.

Bye for now.

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