Do Poles prefer US American or UK English language?

Indeed he was! However, Benn was also a top-notch striker. Eubank go to him. There is an instructional video on Youtube where Lennox Lewis teaches Eubank how to coil. He thinks Eubank lacked that technique and helped him out.

Yes i know the term is used but it is ridiculous in my opinion. We dont call French 'French French' or 'Cameronian French' for example. If I was English I would find it downright offensive.

And we don't call British English "English English" either. OK?

OK then we dont call French 'Continental/European French' and have another 'African French'
The language was invented in England which is on the island of Great Britain and as such it should be referred to as English and American English. OK?

It so happens that I am in fact a linguist, an English Studies major to be precise. Having read the above: "language was invented", "island of Great Britain" I have stopped believing that you have anything at all to do with any sort of language studies. Do you know anything at all about the history of English?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain

Yes Island of Great Britain.

And yes English did originate in England on the Island of Great Britain. You are a know-all know-nothing student so I will finish our discussion. Good luck with your studies you'll need it.

What he probably meant was this:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language#History

Only Zamenhof (from Białystok) and a few others "invented" a language. English started to evolve from various other (as in BB's quote) languages. It is still evolving - and 'British English' is an accepted term.

German language, german descent royal family. german car..... pass me that stein dear I feel unwell;)

How are things back in the old country BB?

My bad, you can actually call it that, though I have personally never come across the actual term "the island of Great Britain" until today.

It still doesn't change the fact that English wasn't invented there, though.

Ok the English language evolved on the Island of Great Britain. My bad for erronously using the word invented. I did not dispute that the term 'British English' was an accepted term, I merely said it was one that did not sit well with me.

English spoken on the Island of Great Britain and its surrounds should, in my opinion, be referred to as English and the modified version used in America should be called American English.

We miss our emigrants! ;)


Just call it German! *ducks and runs*

:):):)

the US English... i don't understand Brits talking ... ;)

Maybe it should, but it isn't except in conversation among the British - and hey, Americans call their language English too. Terms like BritEng, AmEng, AusEng etc are necessary sometimes for the sake of precision.

I would be completely okay with calling my language American (and tweaking the spelling to make it more distinct). I feel about spoken British English roughly the way Norwegians probably feel about written Danish - yeah, I can understand it, but it's not really my language.

A cunning linguist then yea?

Why care about something so trivial?
It's British English to highlight the difference between the other versions, which aren't really all that different anyway, it's not like a yank can't understand an ozzie or a paddy or a jock.

smurf
- exactly. It's just like saying Holy Bible;). You know it is the Bible and that it's holy. ;)

I beg to differ - the English used in America is not "modified". It is actually closer to Shakespeare's English than modern BrE is. It's a sort of linguistic fossil. You can see this happening to the mother tongues of immigrants in the US too. People who come to the US speaking their local dialects or using slang expressions that were fashionable at the time of their departure teach their children this exact form of the language, which is then passed on unchanged to the next generations, while it evolves and changes in their countries of origin.

A good example of what Madzia's talking about is the Ozark mountain dialects of rural Appalachia, round about Skunk Holler, Tennessee and the hills of Western Kentucky. There, folks will typically say things such as 'It'd sure pleasure us a might if ye took supper with us.." or "Set fer a spell!" etc..., all based on colloquial Elizabethan English, light years removed from the 'broad a' farce of contemporary Oxford Received Standard as spoken by the Queen, Prince Charles and the rest-:))

And we haven't even touched on "Toidwater" (Tidewater) American, spoken along the islands off the coast of Virginia, where the English until perhaps very recently, has remained almost in unchanged isolation since the late 1600's!!!

Just came across this thread and had to join! I`ve been in poland for about 2 years now and honestly to me it sounds like 99% of poles pronounce english words like americans. The ones that have a slight british accent are the ones who lived and worked in the UK for some time.

British and American english are practically the same languages. The major difference is the accent, which btw not only varies from country to country but region to region in each country.

I`ve nothing against the brits (most of my ``mates`` are british) but this thread sounds like brits are trying to justify their ESL jobs and prevent others from joining in.

Grow up.

That's why you'd get your ass kicked in a biker bar in America for saying that you're going to pick up some fags, while in a British biker bar (the kind that wildrover would hang out in, for instance) - you'd probably get given some money to pick up some fags for others, too.

Practically the same? Not at all.

For many Americans who come to teach in Poland, learning to teach from British textbooks can be a challenge due to differing vocabulary, idioms and phraseology (not to mention general ideas about how to put a textbook together).

Mostly Poles sound more like Americans I think because IME unless they've been specifically taught differently (on pain of failing) or have lived in a non-rhotic place in Britain for more than a few months, they usually pronounce r's before consonants and at the end of words.

I've had students who say they prefer British usage and want that kind of pronunciation but still pronounce all the r's. My r-ful American accent is not a good model for them though.

I think Poles are confused and English people in Poland only aggravate this confusion. There is only one English that Poles (and almost everybody else in the world) are/should be interested in and it is International English called American English or just English. There is no need at all to waste time for English accent. Unfortunately Poles even as they learn and use English are led to believe by some English folks that there are two versions of this language (of course there are almost countess accents) and they need to learn classic/proper/original (pick your word) version. So they opt for this classic but only in their perception. Anywhere and everywhere in the world including England people use International English and that's all they need. Anyway the 'classic' English is only spoken by queen, everybody else has their own heavy accent and really there is no need to bother with that.

American English sounds good, when it's spoken properly without the cussing or slang, not the southern accent though, i hate how it sounds.

If I put my tyre in my boot, I would have no shoes to wear. The British language is just silly.

Boot...trunk , but in Uk a trunk is an elephants nose , over the engine is a bonnet , which of course in the USA is a hood , now a hood in the UK is something that goes over your head , much like a bonnet would in the USA... A bum is something we sit on in the UK , but of course in the USA a bum is a homeless person , they sit on their ass which of course to us Brits is a donkey type thing ..An ass is sometimes known in the USA as a fanny , which is something very different to us Brits...A tramp in the UK is a homeless person , a USA bum , but of course a tramp in the USA is a woman of low morals....

Are we getting the hang of this yet....????

true to the core:), not to mention the fact that other then Polish English learners use International English as well and a lot of business in conducted in that language, so I see little use for British, especially for somebody who want to communicate without feeling limited to British English. I have spoken to Aussies, South Africans, Brits, Irish and Scots and I have never had a problem with understanding them after learning to tune into their accents, which took me maybe half an hour.

I think that introducing students to many accents is a good idea, since they need to train their ear to them, but they don't have to speak with those accents.

American English =/= "International English"

"International English" (to the extent that it exists) is not a full language as it lacks the cultural references and emotional nuances that are typical of national varieties.

"international" english is what you want it to be or make it to be. there are only small nuances between all the different versions of english.. really not a big deal at all/

The British Council does that already; FCE and CAE-based coursebooks are the norm in private language schools and even state high schools all across the country. Oxford, Cambridge, Longman and Express Publishing do a roaring trade in English language materials here, and they are British English with a token chapter on Americanisms (subway, sidewalk, color/flavor) for the business traveller.


The form of English spoken by most Americans is not International English at all. I've had to stifle rage, then alarm, then hilarity watching an American try and teach a class on Perfect Tenses to Poles who handed him his own arse on a plate. Leaving aside specific vocabulary differences, there are entire types of structure which British English has as a norm, and American sees as aloof, yet when it comes to International Business and Finance, or Journalism, or Academic Writing, it's those British structures which are the norm.

I'm more a descriptivist than a prescriptivist, but the "me and my friend went..." and "me too..." that the Americans have brought in will do Poles no favours if they use them in business communications; and they're not just learning English for fun, like they are Spanish.

That aside, Poles have mastered that American "r" that sounds like a trained seal clapping. ARN ARN ARN!