American or British:What kind of English you speak?

United States
January 22, 2007 11:48am CST
There are lots of differences between American English and British English, specially in pronounciation. But there is difference in words also. Like American says "gas" and the other says "petrol". Here in Mylot members are from all over the world. I just wnated to know what kind of English people follow from different part of the world. So, what do you follow? American English or British English?
17 people like this
60 responses
@rosie_123 (6113)
22 Jan 07
I am Brtish too - so, not surprisingly, I use the British variety. To my knowledge, the rest of the English speaking world (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa etc) also use Brtish English as this was the original version of the language and has been used for centuries. It is only the US that changed the spellings for a reason that us Brits can never quite understand! LOL!
• United States
22 Jan 07
Yes, Brtish English as original English language, it followed by various part of the world. Thank you for your response rosie.
@rosie_123 (6113)
22 Jan 07
Thanks. You are welcome!
1 person likes this
• United States
17 Dec 12
British English has evolved, as have the dialects from which it spread. American English used to be British English as well. Indian English, Australian English, South African English, etc. have all evolved to become their own distinct dialects. I speak American English, by the way. We changed a lot of the spellings out of convenience. Why write letters which are not pronounced? (Even as I write this, I can see more letters which should be omitted!) English is great, but our spelling system leaves much to be desired!
@Sissygrl (10912)
• Canada
25 Jan 07
I speak canadian english eh?! lol i dont know if there are many differences between american and canadian, but i DO know that we say pop and americans call it soda. I'm not sure of any other differences.
1 person likes this
• United States
25 Jan 07
Ohh I am hearing the word pop for soda first time:). Thanks for your response.
• United States
9 Feb 07
Good point sissygrl. Actually I cannot distinguish between Canadian accents and northern midwestern US dialects. Some friends of ours are from Wisconsin and they use the term "pop" as well. First time I heard that I giggled (well I was a little girl). Down here in Texas we seem to always call the soda either a) by its brand name, or b) everything is called Coke! Unless you want a clear soda, then it's all called Sprite. LOL strange... However, if you had a mix of Canadian and American folks in a room it would probably be difficult to distinguish which was which (unless they were from the South, then it's pretty apparent!)
@callarse1 (4783)
• United States
12 Feb 07
Sissygirl, I use pop and I live in Ohio, therefore what you said is not true. I have heard pop, soda, soda pop, fizzy drink, fizzy, cola, etc. There are so many names that it can be called. Therefore, I think I will accept the differences of someone calls a pop or soda. I am willing to be accepting of others. Regards, Pablo
@Krisss (1231)
• Australia
11 Mar 07
Australian English, which I guess is somewhere between the two with a bit of a leaning towards British English.
@SplitZip (1488)
• Portugal
18 Feb 07
I speak both! ;) Is there such a thing as "international english"?
1 person likes this
@SplitZip (1488)
• Portugal
18 Feb 07
I suppose there is, after all: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_English
• United States
28 Feb 07
I am both i have dual Nationality however i have lived most of my life in the US so i speak more american words but with a british accent !My chiildren are Americans and sometimes they make fun of my accent .
1 person likes this
@anonymili (3138)
8 Mar 07
Well I'm British Indian and I certainly follow British English, I get a little wound up when I colour being spelt color and stuff like that. But I'm just overall fussy when it comes to spelling mistakes so I can't really say I have a problem with American English - we are certainly outnumbered by the Americans and I certainly don't want to take on all of them LOL!
1 person likes this
• Canada
16 Feb 07
American English , or at least I hope . I`m in Canada . LOL LOL LOL I Love Your song there , caught me right off guard . What kind of English do you speak .
1 person likes this
@lucalucky (1839)
• Italy
28 Feb 07
My English is so bad that is not american, not British but also not Australian or SouthAfrican English. It is just a terrible English. I think that English is changing quickly, all around the world people talk English and every day they use new words. It is becoming a kind of experanto with a lot of words coming from different countries.
1 person likes this
@emeraldisle (13139)
• United States
21 Feb 07
Oh I'm the first to admit I speak American. It is very different from British English. We have our own slang and idioms that is very different from the British. It can be very confusing at times as well if one doesn't know which they are talking with. I know for myself I've confused people because of it and vice versa. Makes things interesting though.
• United States
12 Feb 07
Infact the British English is more authantic and original Language. American English originated from British English. It is more easy than British English. American don't care about Grammar, they use to speak English without the right grammar rules. Thats why American English is more easy to speak, but due to the cultural impact of Britain, we Pakistani mostly speak British English. Here u may find many British Language and Cultural Centres. We like to speak British English.
@xnipher (544)
• Philippines
22 Feb 07
i love and use the British English and its accent... although here in philippines we are using and studying American English...
@mipen2006 (5528)
• Australia
12 Feb 07
I speak Australian English, which is British, with some colloquialisms that only Australians would understand. For the past eight years I've been teaching American English in Thailand. As a country, Thailand is very confused as to which version of the language they should endorse, so you read, and hear a mixture of both. Of course I add a litle flavor to my lessons, just for fun.
@sagiskt (23)
• Pakistan
15 Feb 07
In Pakistan, British english is officially used in all Govt. institutes, so in Govt schools British english is being taught. But people here like the american english more and they often use the slangs of american language as well.
1 person likes this
@callarse1 (4783)
• United States
12 Feb 07
I speak American English as I was born in the USA. However, unlike some of my radical British brothers and sisters, I do not hate on people because they don't speak how *I* do. I do not say things such as "raping the English language", "rubbish", etc. In fact, I am the first one to say "Why don't we have a committee in English that is like those of French and Spanish?" It seems the most natural and logical thing to me. It amazes me that how schools such as in Australia would accept chatspeak and SMS abbreviations on exams, but I don't hear these British chaps saying anything about that, eh? There are thousands of differences between dialects, I could go on and on and on about all those that I learnt from people from the world. I think that is the advantage of pen paling, right? Peace and god bless. Pablo
1 person likes this
• United States
12 Feb 07
I speak American English. I've been around British people enough to understand all the different terms they use for things. Some of their slang might through me for a loop though. I would imagine more people in Europe learned British English. Most people I know in France of Belgium speak English with a British accent because that's how they learned it.
@malini4u (896)
• India
12 Feb 07
i speak english in uk accent..not only me all around india follow briotish english only
1 person likes this
@adidas7878 (1891)
• United States
12 Feb 07
well my friend, i learn all my english here in wisconsin, and people say i got a wisconsin accents too, so i guess i speak american english than huh, or more of wisconsiner english, but i know that there is few different kind of american english, like souther, and the upper they are pretty cool when they speak.
1 person likes this
9 Feb 07
I'm from England so obviously I speak mainly British english although a few American words seem to have infilitrated the language. I think thats bit of a shame as it ruins the traditional aspects of the language. I think most other parts of the world use the British version.
1 person likes this
@chinni45 (18)
• India
11 Feb 07
I Think most of the Indians speak British English... and i do speak British English....
@Denmarkguy (1845)
• United States
10 Feb 07
I wonder sometimes if perhaps I speak "confused English!" I come from Denmark originally, but learned British English in school and then when I lived in the UK for several years. Now I live in the US and see mostly American English. However, I am up in the north so I get Canadian television, which is more like a combination of British and American. When I am in England, people say "You have an American accent!" and people in the US think I am from Europe or Australia. Fortunately, they all seem to understand me...