What's the diffrence between British English and American English?

Question

I mean I know the accents are a bit diffrent but my teacher said that theres a huge diffrence and since I'm gonna be goin to the UK I want to speak their English.

Answer 1

Just the slang is different...

http://www.bu.edu/mfeldman/Slang/british...

Answer 2

Some exaples

USA - UK

Candy - Sweet

Gas - Petrol

Fries - Chips

Pants - Trousers

Cap - Hat

Cell phone - Mobile

Vacation - Holiday

Color - Colour

Side walk - Pavement

High School - Seconday school

Chips - Crisps

labor - labour

Store - Shop

Soda - Fizzy drink

lawn - feild

soccer - football

cop - police

Ya'll - You lot

Theres plenty more

Answer 3

Two cuountries separated by a common language

Answer 4

well for a start we spell a lot of words correctly.

for instance, colour is colour and aluminim aluminium.

Also, you will discover that Accents are completely varied and diverse. every couple of miles down the road you find a new dialect.

Each one also has certain colloquialisms, such as further north "swimming pool" becomes "bath".

If you enter into Yorkshire you will find a strong accent hard to understand, while the same can be said of east London (Cockney).

otherwise don't worry, you will work out this barmy language sooner or later!

Answer 5

Mainly slang I think?

And SPELLING :o

Answer 6

they call underwear - Knickers

Answer 7

theres hardley any difference at all!

theres only a few words that mean different things for example you say sidewalk and we say pavement

you say chips we say crisps

you say candy we say sweets

you say gas we say petrol

you say cell phone we say mobile phone

you say pants we say trousers

there are a few more but i mean you get the point? lol

see, theres really not much difference! :)

Answer 8

As others have said...accents and colloquialisms...It IS the same language...we can generally understand each other quite well...so the differences are not usually major problems. You need to speak as you always do...you will sound like a fake otherwise.  And since your teacher  is he one who said there is a "huge" difference, you should ask him/her for specifics and if he/she actually believes you will have difficulty understanding and being understood.  Brits and Americans have fun teasing each other about our "common" language...but , I believe, we understand each other quite well.

Answer 9

they say al-loo-min-i-um instead of a-loom-i-num haha

a lot of the spelling and sayings are different

check out the site below

Answer 10

the two countries use different words to describe some of the same things

some slang is different

spelling of some of the words is different

Answer 11

Your teacher is right there are many many differences you will have to get used to - for instance you may be told to put your luggage in the car 'boot' (not trunk)  - the engine of the car is under the 'bonnet' (not hood) - our cars run on 'petrol' (not gas) and we fill them up at a petrol station.  The right hand pedal in a car is the 'accelerator' (not gas pedal). - you will park your car in a 'car park' (not parking lot)

If you ask for "The bathroom" you may well be directed to a room containing only a bath,  we use a 'toilet' to relieve ourselves  and 'rest room' has virtually no meaning at all , we do not rest in our toilets  -.  you will take a 'lift' to go up in a building - not an elevator - and the street level floor of a building is the 'ground floor' (not first floor) - the 'first floor' in the UK is up one flight of stairs from the street level floor - so all other numbers are also up one on yours.

Please walk on the 'pavement' (not sidewalk) when walking in town - and use a 'Zebra' crossing to cross the road.

Our 'lemonade' will completely confuse you - it is much more like 7up and fizzy.

you will find a great deal of useful information on this website :-

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/...  

.....

Answer 12

The amount of intelligence behind it

Answer 13

http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aa11...

Answer 14

There are a million small differences. It would be impossible to explain them all to you.  Mostly, word choice is going to be different (underwear are knickers as someone else said, but are also called pants and pants as you know them are trousers, the trunk of a car is called a boot and the hood is a bonnet... I could go on with these differences forever), rules of grammar are more strictly followed, slang is different, sentence structure is sometimes different, etc...  I'm an American, but I agree with the other poster who said the level of intelligence is the main difference.  Those who speak British English tend to have a larger vocabulary.  If you are going to be in the UK for a while, you will pick it up, but will probably never fully "change over" if you've been speaking American English your whole life.

Answer 15

everything is basically the same except for the accent and a few words

Answer 16

Not much, just dialect and different slang.  I live in Alaska and we get many British tourists and we all understand each other fine.  I like their slang and they have a great attitude.  My office is near where Princess Cruise people meet the bus and I enjoy meeting new people.  I see them at the nearby pub sometimes.  Very friendly people