The advantage of British England?

Question

I'm a student from China.I like English very much.And I want to know what is the British English and what's the advantage of British English.

Answer 1

The main advantage is that it is the correct English, spoken and written by all Commonwealth countries, The EU and much of the rest of the world.  The American variant of English is only written in the US (and the Phillipines) - with only a few spellings crossing the Canadian border

BTW there is no British English - it is just English

Answer 2

British English is understood all over the world; American English is only in America.  It is also the 'real', original English.

Answer 3

As a Canadian, occasionally exposed to American, I find it remarkable that no aggrieved American has entered the conversation with an ‘I is as good as you is’ argument. Here, however, is what I would offer him:

Besides precision, what Received English offers in aid of clear expression, that American does not, is an abundance of music and humour, invaluable in oral expression. English, moreover, supports the concise and effective expression of complex ideas, as well as their comprehension. One should not need habitually to state an idea, then state what one meant by it, and then state what one did not mean by it. It should all be there, in the original statement, together with all the conventions that make that suffice, leaving no one in doubt as to just what was said.

Anyone who is well acquainted with both Received English and American will almost certainly agree that the latter is vastly less attentive to detail; it manifests a dislike of detail, perhaps thought both too troublesome and unsuitable to the mind of the common man. But a right-headed desire for respect for the common man often takes the form of a wrong-headed rejection of precisely that which would achieve such respect.

For those Americans and others afflicted with the limitations of dialect, who find themselves at some point in need of a language wherein to express the difficult ideas of various branches of scholarship (as law or mathematics or philosophy) the limitations of language pose a grievous obstacle. In effect, many find it necessary to acquire another language; just as, only a few centuries ago, one needed Latin and Greek, to transact business of that order. We require the use of logical rules of syntax, for approximately the same reason as do mathematicians, who require the use of round, square, and curly brackets and well-defined operator symbols, to make their statements clear and unambiguous.

I have had, in mathematical work, the privilege of knowing a fair number of Russians. Russian mathematicians and physicists, in Russia, often conduct their proceedings in English. They need the language, in order to publish and otherwise maintain their place in the world of mathematics. Besides this, English increasingly becomes the language of Europe. Of course, they all require a language which will support as well the complex ideas of their trade, as their respective native languages do.



To grow up where the language of scholarship is also the language of the dinner table is to enjoy a vast reserve of unmerited privilege, denied many. Thus it is, in one notable respect among many, that social inequalities are perpetuated by misconceptions about what constitutes a suitable education for ordinary people. A language that supports clarity and broad options of expression is the armament of democracy.

Answer 4

Dear Alexandra

I am Australian and speak English without a strong accent - so the English tell me. My range of expression is broad and I communicate well with the English and other  members of the British isles.

The advantage of British English, which is to be simple, concise and polite, is that every English speaker on the face of this earth can understand you.Unfortunately, many other countries have "English" teachers who are American, Indian, Irish etc and they inherit the strong accent and the national vocabulary.The most notable country is the Philippines: many call centres are there, and their heavy American accents and manner make them incomprehensible to British English speakers.

get yourself an ENGLISH teacher or go there to study if you can.