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I like British accent for its aesthetics, but from pragmatic point of view it's not even a contest (from the perspective of a non-native speaker), I agree. It'
by V-2 5y ago
I like British accent for its aesthetics, but from pragmatic point of view it's not even a contest (from the perspective of a non-native speaker), I agree.
It's not just the r's (in fact, some British accents are rhotic - around their South West, if I'm not mistaken?), there are all these glottal stops and whatnot.
But, from my observations at least, there are also big discrepancies related to social class. When I moved to the UK, I had no problem whatsoever talking to, say, a local librarian - but a plumber would be nearly impossible to understand for me, in the first months at least. I didn't really experience it in the US, certainly not to such an extent.
- toyg 5y agoThe thing is that UK dialects are virtually unknown outside the country; they can be very different from Received Pronounciation, but diverge in ways that are still fundamentally predictable for a native English speaker (unless you wander into Scotland or Ireland). American accents are more familiar because of Hollywood, so they tend to be less surprising; and likely because a lot of them were actually developed by people who learned English as a second language, they are often exaggerate in effect, very clear, and actually more regular (particularly on names, where UK "rules" are anything but). This said, "deep south" US accents, when pushed hard, can become as inscrutable as certain UK dialects.