Talking about learning English, wouldn’t it be great if everyone’s pronunciation is the same?
Unfortunately for English learners, native speakers around the globe all have their own unique ways of speaking. There are dozens of accents, slang words and varieties of English in the world, which can make it difficult to understand them all.The different varieties of English spoken in the world
The different varieties of English spoken in the world are:
- North American English
- British English
- Scottish English
- Irish English
- Australian English
- New Zealand English
- Singlish
Let’s begin by talking about the best known: North American and British English
North American English
Talking about the North American English variety is spoken mainly in the United States and in Canada. Since so many movies and television shows are produced here, many around the world know the “American accent” well—think “Friends.” But in reality, there are several regional varieties and accents of North American English.
For example, the Canadian variety of North American English uses some unique expressions such as: adding “Eh?” after many questions for emphasis, not present in other varieties of North American English.
British English
British English is a language itself, because the UK have hundreds of accents, some as specific as being from part of one city or unique to one small town. Even though English around the world came originally from Britain, many people now find this English the strangest because of its large amount of slang. If you’re asking yourself about the differences between British and American English; por example some words have different ways to be spelled, e.g. British “colour” and “centre” instead of American “color” and “center.” Not only spelling is different, but everyday usage words such as British “Brolly”, “Tube” or “Innit” which correspond to American “Umbrella”, “Subway” and “isn’t it?”.
The next publication will be about Scottish and Irish English, don’t miss it!