Choose American or British
Pronunciation (or Both)
Different kinds of English have different
pronunciation.
For example, the pronunciation (the accent) in British English
is different from the pronunciation in American English.
You have a choice between British English
and American English, because these are the most important
kinds of English in the world. Which one should you choose?
Probably the kind that you like the most. Whether you choose
British or American pronunciation, people will understand
you wherever you go. Of course, you don't have to decide:
you can learn to speak both kinds of English.
Learn about both American and British Pronunciation:
Even if you choose to speak
one kind of English, you should learn about both kinds.
Let's suppose you want to speak pure British English. You
don't want to have an American accent at all. Should you
pay attention to the American pronunciations in your dictionary?
You may want to speak British English, but you will hear
some American English, too. You may go see an American movie,
visit the United States, have an American teacher, etc.
You may want to speak only British English, but you need
to understand both British and American English.
Also, consider
what happens if you (a student of British English)
hear a new English word from an American? You may learn
the American pronunciation of the word. And you may start
using that pronunciation in your own speech. So your British
English will no longer be pure.
For example, if you hear the word nuke
on American TV, it will be pronounced [nu:k]. If, all your
life, you have been reading only British phonetic transcriptions,
you will not know that many words which have the sound [ju:]
in British English, have [u:] in American English. So you
will probably learn that nuke is pronounced [nu:k]. But
if you learn it like this, you will make your pronunciation
"wrong", because a Briton would pronounce the
word [nju:k].
Of course, the same advice is true if
you're learning American English. In such a case, you should
be interested in both British and American pronunciations,
too.
English
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