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English in Japan

Personally, I feel that English, spoken with a refined British accent, is the true form of the spoken language regardless of words, phrases, and spelling used in Australia, the US and other English speaking countries. It's a beautiful language to listen to and quite easy to comprehend. When I hear British English spoken in it's finest form it gives me the impression (probably false) that the person speaking it is intelligent! And this comes from a person who used to have a thick Brooklyn, NY accent!

On the other hand, come to think of it, although the Brooklyn accent (along with the Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia accents) may sound tough, it does lead me (and maybe others) to have the impression (again false) that the person speaking it is unintelligent and uneducated when I hear it. The same holds true for a thick southern accent although I know all cases to not be true.

Why American English is often required to be spoken in Japan is beyond me.

Anyone else feel this way? Just a personal observation. 🙂
 
I prefer American English (not b/c I am patriotic or anything). I do like the Brit-English accent tho. I mean like... British think Americans speak funny... but we all came from the same place - some of us just migrated to the US and then called it USA (back in the 15/1600's - 1700s). doesn't mean much... and on the other hand... Americans think the British speak funny... its like a lose/lose situation *lolz

American English is derivative of a lot of German and other languages. Japanese uses a lot of German words... like albeiten (german) = albeit (japanese). It might be easier to pronounce I guess... i have no idea... just my own opinion

All i know is that a lot of Japanese students come from Japan to learn English in New York City. (I know b/c my mom was a rep for an ELS program). So I guess its really preference. I dunno about how many go to the UK to learn English tho.
 
People always talk on how American and British English differ, but I feel that with gobal communication as it is and English become such a dominant language that the differences between the various dialect on spelling will gradually fade. Look on how many people spell alright as alright, not all right, the correct British way. Sulphur is officially Sulfur and has been for several years. English slang words are interchanable across oceans. Years ago Bollocks was a purely Britsih word yet I have heard used on American films and televsion recently. With things like this forum America and Britian are no longer two countries seperated by a common language.
 
People always talk on how American and British English differ, but I feel that with gobal communication as it is and English become such a dominant language that the differences between the various dialect on spelling will gradually fade.

Highly doubt it honestly. MAYBE if this was a mono-ethnic country (or on the same level as the UK), but that its not pretty much prevents that from ever happening. AMERICAN ENGLISH is pretty much here to stay and really has no chance - in our lifetimes at least - of becoming married to or having its dialect indistiguished from BRIT ENGLISH.
 
Can I just point out (since people seem to be rather over-generalising) that there is no such thing as a "British accent". When you say you like the sound of a British accent, what you're thinking of is an accent which is probably most commonly found in the Home Counties (south-east England) but is by no means the only accent in this area. There are literally dozens of regional accents in Britain, many of which are wildly different from the one some people are referring to.

Believe it or not, we don't all sound like Hugh Grant (or James Bond for that!)
 
Silverpoint said:
Believe it or not, we don't all sound like Hugh Grant (or James Bond for that!)

Which is almost certainly a great shame, as I, personally, prefer that form of British accent over the many others I have encountered.
 
Haha. I'm actually headed up North for university! The fact is that when all is said and done, the diversity that the various accents of Great Britain represent is part of what makes us who we are. Some accents are quite pleasant, if not beautiful, to listen to, but at the same time, some would be best forgotten... That statement might seem unfair, and we are of course entitled to our own opinions, but can you honestly say that you've never heard an accent that sounded absolutely horrible?
 
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