[General] Distinguish Amr and Brit Eng during the conversation?

[Williamyh]

Hi Everybody,

I'd like to know how to quickly distinguish the guy who is speaking American English or British English during the conversation, I understand there are different pronunciation in some words, but any special characteristics or any key we can immediately know this guy is from US or from UK....please advise. Thanks.

W

 

[Leandro-Z]

For example, if the pronunciation is more closed and with a marked accent, that person is British.

 

[Raymott]

Hi Everybody,

I'd like to know how to quickly distinguish the guy who is speaking American English or British English during the conversation, I understand there are different pronunciation in some words, but any special characteristics or any key we can immediately know this guy is from US or from UK....please advise. Thanks.

W

Wouldn't you have to determine first whether they were speaking one of these varieties, and then narrow it down? If you are starting with the assumption that, if they're talking English, it's either American or British, you might end up being very confused.
[Hint - if the guy's wearing a baseball cap, he might be American. If's he's carrying an umbrella, he might be British.]

 

[Leandro-Z]

I mean, it is not difficult to tell the difference between an American movie and a British film.

 

[konungursvia]

One good clue, if you`re not advanced enough just to tell on your own, is that AmE has a very flat voice intonation, whereas Brits speak with lots more ups and downs in the voice.

 

[saga me holla]

Hi Everybody,

I'd like to know how to quickly distinguish the guy who is speaking American English or British English during the conversation, I understand there are different pronunciation in some words, but any special characteristics or any key we can immediately know this guy is from US or from UK....please advise. Thanks.

W

This won't work 100 percent of the time because there are so many accent variations within the U.S. and England, but: listen for t and r.


North Americans tend to pronounce t in the middle of a word as /d/ or a flap (which sounds similar to /d/).

English people tend to pronounce the t as /t/ or to use a glottal stop.


North American accents generally keep the rhotic r in most situations. This means words like car or bird have a prominent “r” sound.

English people generally don’t say the r, and instead usually make the vowel longer.


For example, the word letter in North American English might sound like “ledder,” and in the U.K., it might sound like “lettah.”

Hope this helps

 

[meobeo]

One good clue, if you`re not advanced enough just to tell on your own, is that AmE has a very flat voice intonation, whereas Brits speak with lots more ups and downs in the voice.

You made a good point. British intonation is so much harder for non-native speakers to imitate as it involves a lot of ups and downs. I guess a learner really needs to have a good ear and a bit of a gift in order to get the hang of it.
Apart from the letters "r" and "t" that someone has mentioned, there are many other distinct differences between British and American pronunciations. The "o" sound is an example. Try listening to the word "hot" spoken by a Brit and an American, you'll see that the American says it like "ah" while the British way is more like "o".
Sometimes the number of syllables for the same word is also different. For example, in American English, you would say mil-li-ta-ry or dic-tion-na-ry like there are 4 syllables. But British pronunciation tends to shorten the sounds, so those words would sound like mil-li-tri and dic-tion-ry.
There are certainly still tons of ways to distinguish between A.E and B.E. You could write a book about it!