attitutes towards accents

Hi everybody, I'm a french student and I have to work on the different attitudes that Americans and british people have towards their accents.
And I need your point of view, I have 3 questions :

1) How would you describe or what are your feelings about the other accent and way of speaking , the british one if you are american and vice versa ?

2) Do you think british and american people are really different? why?

3) Do you think american english has an influence over british english or not? (through TV, music, ...)

Please tell me your age and where are you from!

It will help me if you answer, thank you very much!!!!

Bye, aurélie

I'm 24 and from Virginia, US.

1) I don't have any strong feelings about the British accents. Some of them are hard to understand, because I do not hear them often, but they aren't bad, just different.

2) British and American people are certainly different in some ways. We listen to different music, watch different TV shows, eat different foods, and so on. But we are also alike: We speak the same language, have similar political systems, and so on. I think the Americans and the British are more alike than, say, the Americans and the Chinese, but we are stilll different.

3) I think American English has an influence on British English, just as it has an influence on many languages. American English is a lingua franca, so it must surely have an influence on British English. But British English also influences American English. We get British TV shows, movies, and so on, and we Americans learn British English just as surely as the British learn our language.

George

[Ravenclaw]

Originally Posted by aurelie

Hi everybody, I'm a french student and I have to work on the different attitudes that Americans and british people have towards their accents.
And I need your point of view, I have 3 questions :

1) How would you describe or what are your feelings about the other accent and way of speaking , the british one if you are american and vice versa ?

2) Do you think british and american people are really different? why?

3) Do you think american english has an influence over british english or not? (through TV, music, ...)

Please tell me your age and where are you from!

It will help me if you answer, thank you very much!!!!

Bye, aurélie

I can't give you my real name because my parents freak out if I "lach on" to a new site, but I can tell you that my screen name is Elizabeth Ravenclaw, I am 12 years (but don't judge my book by my cover), and I live in California U.S.A.

1)I am an accent FAN, and my favorite accent is the Brittish acent (though I think I was useing a Scottish accent today) Boys: I automaticly have a humungous crush on them. Girls:I think they're cool and try to be their friend. If I actually get to know them and they're really weird then I give them dirty looks if they "screw up that perfect accent".

2)Yes, but not nessesarily because of they're actions, I've always thought of Brittish people as "proper" and Americans as fool around clowns who just like to have a great time.

3)Uhhh, I'm not sure, I'd say sort of, but not really (I'm using Harry Potter as my example or what I gather my thoughts from.)




P.S. My definition of "cool" is not cold or popular, but that I like them (not like a crush, but like the way they are)

P.P.S. My sisters (and sort of me too) love French, the language, the people, ect.