British English vs. American English Pronunciation

by Ela Britchkow, Speech Therapist

Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.
-Anthony J. D'Angelo

Differences between American regional accents are small compared with the regional differences within Britain.

What is the difference between American English and British Accent? by Ela Britchkow, Speech-Language Pathologist, Accent Modification Specialist American pronunciation When people talk about “learning American pronunciation”, they are referring to learning General American or Standard American English pronunciation. General American is the accent that is most often spoken on national television in the United States. 

Educated Americans usually speak Standard American English and that is what you’ll hear 90% of what you’ll hear on American TV, radio, podcasts, movies, Web videos, etc. There are differences in regional accents, but in general, differences between American regional accents are small compared with the regional differences within Britain. 

General American pronunciation is rhotic /’roʊtɪk/, which means that the letter R is always pronounced. British pronunciation When people talk about learning British pronunciation, they usually think of Received Pronunciation (RP). RP is the pronunciation of the British upper class – people who went to universities like Oxford and Cambridge. Only about 5% of Britons

American pronunciation
When people talk about “learning American pronunciation”, they mean learning General American or Standard American English pronunciation. General American is the accent that is most often spoken on national television in the United States. Educated Americans usually speak Standard American English and that is what you’ll hear 90% of what you’ll hear on American TV, radio, podcasts, movies, Web videos, etc.

General American pronunciation is rhotic /’roʊtɪk/, which means that the letter R is always pronounced.
British pronunciation
When people talk about learning British pronunciation, they usually think of Received Pronunciation (RP). RP is the pronunciation of the British upper class – people who went to universities like Oxford and Cambridge. Only about 5% of Britons speak RP — these are upper-class people, academics, actors,

TV personalities, politicians and English teachers. Most Britons speak with their local accents. If you go anywhere else than the south-east of England and talk to people on the street, you will most likely hear something quite different from RP, which can be very hard to understand to untrained ears.

Sometimes cities that are only 20 km apart have very different accents.
RP is non-rhotic, which means that the letter R is usually “silent”, unless it is followed by a vowel. For example: car will sound like “cah” and inform will sound like “infom”. In words like red, foreign, print, R is pronounced (R is followed by a vowel). R is also pronounced at the end of a word, if the next word starts with a vowel, for example: number eight, far away. Most RP speakers also insert an R in phrases like: the idea(r) of, Africa(r) and Asia, law(r) and order. This R is not in the spelling; they just use it to separate two vowels.

The following pairs sound exactly the same in RP: or–awe, court–caught,sore–saw, farther–father, formerly–formally. In Standard American, they all sound different.
There are a few words in British English where the stress is put in a different part of the word. For example:
BritishAmerican
BAL letbal LET
Ad DRESSAD dress
GA ragega RAGE
Ad ver TIS ment ( short /i/)ad ver TISE ment (long /i/)Note: the capital letters symbolize where the sound is stressed.

The differences in pronunciation of other words lie in the vowel sounds, not in differently-stressed syllables. For example:
BritishAmerican
vase:   vars as in carsvace as in face
route:   root as in shootrout  as in shout (Some Americans pronounce it the British way.)
buoy:   boy as in toy booey as in the French name Louis
ate:   et as in letate as in late
tomato:   tomartotomayto
leisure as in pleasureleesure (lee as in she)

The British use some vocabulary words that are different than Americans use.
British                                     American
cupboard                              closet
holiday                                   vacation
autumnfall
Drawing pin                          Thumb tack
torch                                       flashlight
underground                        subway
luggage                                 baggage
film                                         movie
curtains                                  drapes
lift                                            elevator
bonnet                                    hood
postman                                 mailman
bill                                            check
queue                                      line
sweets                                     candy
petrol                                       gas
caravan                                    trailer
cutlery                                      silverware
Car park                                   Parking lot
lorry                                          truck
rubbish                                    garbage
jumper                                    sweater
chips                                       French fries
biscuit                                     cookie
flat                                           apartment
yard                                         garden

Some Words Ending in -ILE are Different in British and American English
British (the /i/ is pronounced with the long /i/ sound)American (the /i/ is pronounced with the short /i/ sound
agile                                        agil
fertile                                      fertle
hostile                                    hostil
versatileVersatil In some words, the letter “A” is pronounced differently in British and American English

BritishAmerican
Bath (baath)                           Bath (b/ae/th)
Laugh (laagh)                        L/ae/gh
Class (claass)                        Cl/ae/ss
Chance (chance)                 Ch/ae/nce
Ask (aask)                             /ae/sk
After (aafter)                        /ae/fter
Can’t (caan’t)                        c/ae/nt

Example (example)Ex/ae/mpleThe -IZATION ending is different in British and American English

British (long /i/ in the “ization” part and the first syllable is stressedEnglish

Civilization (CI vil ization)            ci vil I ZA tion
Organization (OR gan ization)or gani ZA tion
Authorization (AUTH or ization)Auth or I ZA tion
Globalization (GLO bal ization)Glo bal I ZA tionThe letter “T” in the middle of a word can be pronounced like a soft “D” in American English and as a clear /t/ in British English.
​
BritishAmerican
water                                        wader
hated                                        haded
writing                                      wriding
bottom                                     bodom
little                                          liddle
better                                       beder
mattermadder
letterledderSome words are spelled differently in British English than in American English. Here are just a few common words that are spelled differently:
BritishEnglish
colour                                                              color
theatre                                                             theater
travelling                                                         traveling
jewellry                                                            jewelry
proramme                                                      program
skilful                                                               skillful
checque                                                         check
moustache                                                    mustache
aeroplane                                                      airplane
neighbour                                                     neighbor
Gaol (pronounced jail)                                jail
pyjamas                                                         pajamas
learnt                                                             learned

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​By Ela Britchkow, Speech and Language Pathologist
©2017 Ela Britchkow