Hi, and welcome back to engVid.
Today we have a special treat for you, this is like an amazing video, because we are joined
by Emma.
Hello, everyone.
Emma, as you probably know, is one of the most popular teachers on engVid, and we're
very lucky to have her here, and we're going to be discussing the differences...
Some of the differences between the American and the British sound.
And I should just make a quick correction, we're going to be talking about the North
American sound, so this includes Canadian English and American English.
So, there are many differences between the British accent and the American or Canadian
accent.
Let's start by talking about one of the biggest differences, which is the pronunciation of
"r".
In American and Canadian English, we have a very strong "r" sound, so what we're going
to do is we're going to actually hear the difference between how I pronounce a list
of "r" sounds and how Benjamin pronounces the list of "r" sounds.
Okay?
Sure.
So, let's get started.
"Car".
"Weather".
"Mother".
"Father".
"Sister".
"Bar".
"Work".
So, you might have noticed that my "r" sounds are a lot stronger and they sound more like
"er", whereas...
It's almost like you're kind of rolling the "r".
Exactly.
Whereas, yours sounds a lot softer and a bit quieter, less strong.
Sure.
That said, there are accents in the UK where the "r" sound would be strong.
For example, the... anywhere in the west of the UK, so the West Country, more sort of
pirate culture, I suppose, has that "r" sound.
Oh.
Okay.
So, we're now going to have a go at doing one another's accent just for a couple of
these words.
So, which word should I try and do in a North American accent, Emma?
Let's try "car".
"Car".
That was actually really good.
Okay.
So, I'm terrible with British accents, but I'm going to now try to pronounce this in
a British way.
"Car".
So, at the moment, with that vowel sound, where you're almost sort of changing it into
a diphthong, where you're making two separate vowel sounds, whereas actually in a sort of
modern day British accent, it would just be the single vowel sound of "ah".
"Ah".
Yeah.
"Car".
Yeah.
Kind of imagine it like a "k".
"Ah".
"Car".
Okay.
Okay, so we have talked about the American and Canadian "r".
If you're interested in learning how to produce this sound, I actually have a video on the
pronunciation of "r".
Now, what we're going to talk about is another big difference between the British accent
and the North American accent, and that has to do with what I call the middle "t".
Sometimes in North American English, we pronounce "t"s like "d"s.
This happens when the "t" is in the middle of a word.
So, for example, I would pronounce this as "city".
So, I would not say "sit-tee", I'd pronounce this "t" like a "d".
"City".
How would you pronounce this?
"Sit-tee".
So, notice he is using more of a "t" sound while I'm using more of a "d" sound.
Again, I would pronounce this like a "d".
"Party".
Okay.
"Water".
See, that's a very big difference, I think, in our accents with this specific word.
"Water" and...
"Water".
Sorry.
For numbers, we do this a lot in North American English, so I'd say "30", "40", "50", "60",
and how would you say them?
"30", "40", "50", "60".
So, again, notice he's pronouncing a lot more of the "t" sound.
So, here is a sentence that has a lot of "t"s.
I'm going to say this in the North American way, and then you will say this in your accent
in the British way.
So, again, listen to the "t"s and how I pronounce them like "d"s.
"Betty bought a bit of better butter."
Okay, so notice there is a very big difference between our accents for this sentence.
I just want to point out, though, Emma, that I don't feel representative of a British accent.
The British accent is really, really diverse, and it's very difficult to sort of pin it
down.
So, I would be...
People would classify my voice as being an RP accent, which is basically a region-neutral
accent generally down in the south of England that is to do with sort of social classes
as well.
But, yeah, I'm sure if there were kind of English natives watching this, they'd be like,
"That's not my accent."
So, yeah, I just wanted to point that out.
And I should also clarify that although I'm talking about North American English in pronunciation,
I also might pronounce things more in a Canadian way, but again, there's many different accents
in Canada and in the United States, and there's a lot of shared similarities.
So, in this video, we're talking about some of the more common features that are different
between North American and British accent.
But again, there are many accents within each group.
Yeah.
And actually, Jill has made a video on the different accents in the UK, so if you do
want to find out more about it, that would be a good video to look at.
So, we've covered the strong "r" and we've covered the middle "t".
If you're interested in learning more about the pronunciation of the middle "t" sound
in North American English, I actually have a video on that so you can learn how to produce
it.
But now we are going to look at stress in words.
There is sometimes a difference in where we place stress in words in British English versus
North American English.
Again, "stress" refers to when we say a part of the word louder and longer.
So, we are going to say these different words, and I want you to listen carefully to where
we are putting the stress.
Okay?
So, let's start with the first word, "vitamin".
How would you say this?
I would use...
Do this vowel a bit differently, I would say "vitamin".
"Vitamin".
Yeah.
So, I say "vitamin"...
And I'm "vitamin".
"Vitamin".
The next word is "advertisement".
"Advertisement".
Yeah.
I mean, often we'll shorten it just to "advert", so how do you say "advert"?
We say "ad", so we shorten it even more.
Yeah.
But with the word "advert"...
Yeah.
"Advert".
So, I think that's similar, but...
"Advert".
Yeah.
You be the judge.
Okay.
You can see on this one that we got very confused about how to spell it, because it's spelt
differently in North America to the UK, so when Emma wrote this, I was like, "No, no,
no.
There's an 'i'."
We had an argument about spelling.
And we had to write both, so the answer is that in North America, it's spelt just with
a... no "i" here, but in the rest of the world, the rest of the English-speaking world, we
have this "i" here.
And if you're wondering what this means, it's a type of element or metal.
We often talk about aluminum foil, so it's just, I guess, an element on the periodic
table.
Is that... or...
Aluminum foil.
Whoa.
So, let's hear that difference in pronunciation again.
How would you say this?
"Aluminium".
I would say "aluminum".
"Aluminum".
And he's saying "aluminium".
"Aluminium".
So, again, this is very different.
The next word, I think there is a difference in the vowel sound here, so I would say "zebra",
whereas I would say "zebra".
"Zebra"?
"Zebra".
Okay.
So, again, a difference.
I hear British people use this word a lot, and it always sounds very different to my
ears when I hear it.
I would say "garage".
There are two ways of pronouncing it in British English, "garage" or "garage".
Okay.
So, "garage"...
"Garage".
Okay.
So, again, different ways to pronounce this, and a bit different.
The next word, "princess", "princess".
Whereas...
Well, just to make a comment on the sound of the American, like, often it goes...
In terms of, like, pitch, the pitch goes down, so Emma just said "princess", like it kind
of went down.
So, if you're trying to replicate the American accent, think of going down the stairs.
I like that.
I like that visual, too, of going down the stairs.
So, how would you say this word?
"Princess".
Okay.
And it's a bit of a...
It can be a bit of a derogatory term, like if you call someone a bit of a princess, then
you're saying, "Come on, you're being a bit...
A bit pathetic."
And we have the same meaning, actually, where it can be an insult, too, here.
What about this last one?
I would say "vaccine".
We would have less stress on the end, here, so it would just be "vaccine".
It's kind of almost like you're swallowing that sound at the end, "vaccine".
Okay.
Okay, so some of these words are very different, some of them are a little bit more similar,
like I think "vaccine", there's less of a difference, but still a small one.
Yeah, compared to, like...
Aluminum.
Yeah, "aluminium".
All right, so now Benjamin is going to tell us some of the differences he has noticed.
Sure.
Okay, I'm just going to scrub this off.
So we've started to see some of the very basic differences between a standard American accent
and a loosely British accent, and as Emma has pointed out, she's got a couple of videos
on the topic, and I also have a lesson on RP if people want to understand more about
what that is.
What I'm looking at, here, is some of the differences between the accents in the UK.
Which accents are you aware of, Emma, in the UK?
I've heard of the Cockney accent.
Okay.
And...
Which is...
Which...
Where's that from?
London.
Yeah.
Oh, good.
Okay.
And I've also heard of, I think, a South English accent that's more posh is my understanding
and I've also heard that the North accent is less posh, but this is what I've heard.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, yeah, it's...
It's a generalization, but in the way it sounds, I mean, in the South of the UK there are accents
as well.
So you've got the West Country where we, you know, drink cider and play a bit of cricket
on the wicket in the village and all that, and, you know, the more sort of Cockney accent.
So this demonstrates a Cockney accent here quite well because in RP, the sort of formal
version of English, it's...
You have all the Hs and it's like "Hairy Harry is huge", but if you were in a London cab
and you're speaking to a local, he'd be like, "Airy Arry is huge, that one, innit?"
So "inni", "he" goes to "ee" and "inni".
Can you try and give me a Cockney accent, "Airy Arry"?
"Airy Arry"?
"Airy", "airy".
"Airy Arry"?
Meaning...
Yeah, "hair", "air", "airy", "airy Arry".
"Airy Arry".
Yeah.
Well, he's huge, isn't he?
Okay, so these are some features of the RP accent.
We have our Hs, a very clicked, precise tone.
So whereas in sort of more like urban English where it's almost...
It's kind of considered uncool if you pronounce all the consonants and people are trying to
like sort of fit in and they don't want their voice to stand out, they'd be like, "I haven't
got much for it.
I haven't got very much time for you today, for you today."
Or even like Morseland, "I ain't got much time for you today.
I ain't got much time for you today."
So "haven't" could be replaced by... with "ain't", but if we're trying to pronounce
that absolutely correctly, it would be like all the vocal energy is here in the mouth.
"I haven't got very much time for you today."
Can you give it a go?
I...
Can you say it one more time and then I'll say it?
I haven't got very much time for you today.
Pretty good.
Today.
Yeah.
Okay, cool.
That was good.
Yeah.
Oh.
Oh, thank you.
So the vowel sound, typically we will have a, like, kind of an "r", "r", which is quite
identifiably RP.
So, for example, people disagree about how the greatest music festival is pronounced.
Emma, you would say?
Glastonbury?
Yes.
I think most people of my generation in the UK would say it like that as well, but some
of the older generation of RP speakers would say Glastonbury.
Glastonbury.
"Bree", "bree".
Oh, so this isn't "berry", it's "bree".
Yeah.
Glastonbury.
Yeah.
Which always sounds really weird to me.
So just practicing some of those... that sound, so if you repeat after me, Emma, so "rather".
"Rather".
Yeah.
"Croft".
How would you say this city in the southwest?
Do you want the North American or how I think you would say it?
Yeah.
"Both".
I love it when she does her intonation, it cracks me up.
"Smart".
Okay?
So, really, to make this RP sound in a nutshell, you're using your vocal muscles around the
lips, you're thinking forward the sound, pronouncing everything very correctly, whether it's a
"t", you're making those "t" sounds, you're keeping those "h"s in, and you're making this
"r" sound.
Okay, so it's an "r" sound.
Yes.
So, now to demonstrate the differences between the American and the British sound, we're
going to read a piece of text so you can really start to notice it.
And Emma has chosen this text very carefully because it actually incorporates most of the
different consonants and vowel sounds.
Correct.
Okay, so we have here a part of the grandfather passage.
What we are going to do, if it's okay with you, is I'm going to say a sentence from this,
and then you can say a sentence, and we're going to compare our accents.
What I want you to really focus on is how we pronounce our "r"s, remember the strong
"r" versus more of the soft "r", listen to how we pronounce our vowels, maybe the stress
in some of the words we use, as well as our "t"s.
Okay?
Is there anything you want the audience to pay attention to?
Let's see it in action.
Okay.
"You wish to know all about my grandfather."
Okay.
So, this...
It was...
For me, this was less about the actual sounds, it was more about the kind of the sing-song
nature of, you know, the different melody of them.
Could you read it one more time, please, Emma?
Sure.
"You wish to know all about my grandfather."
Okay.
"You wish to know all about my grandfather", she says.
"You wish to know all about my grandfather."
So, I would say that if you're looking at the sort of the rise and fall, the melody
here, that probably the British one was a little bit flatter, whereas there was a bit
more of a sing-song nature to your rendition.
Yeah?
I would agree with that.
And I would also say one other thing, the way we said "grandfather" is also different.
Again, that is the strong "r" I'm saying, "er", "grandfather", whereas yours was a bit
more subtle and a bit of a softer "r".
Yeah, just sort of drops off in the British English.
Okay.
Great.
Next sentence.
"Well, he is nearly 93 years old, yet he still thinks as swiftly as ever."
Okay.
So, again, we've got that "r" sound at the end.
Quite a long sentence, this one.
Could you say it one more time for me, Emma?
Sure.
"Well, he is nearly 93 years old, yet he still thinks as swiftly as ever."
So, this word is going to be different in British to American.
Emma says it as...
"Ninety-three".
And for me it would be "ninety-three".
So, again, that's that "t" sound.
I'm saying it like a "d", "ninety", whereas you're saying it like a "t" sound.
"Ninety".
Yeah.
Okay.
I'll read it all, the entire sentence.
"Well, he is nearly 93 years old, yet he still thinks as swiftly as ever."
I also noticed a difference in the way we said "ever".
Again, that's that "r" sound.
So, I'm saying "ever", whereas you're saying...
"Ever".
So, less of that "r".
Okay.
Let's keep finding out about "grandfather".
Okay.
"He dresses himself in an old black frock coat..."
Sorry, let me say that again.
"He dresses himself in an old black frock coat, usually several buttons missing."
Now, this vowel sound is quite different.
Emma says...
"Frock".
And I would say "frock".
Okay.
One more time.
"Frock".
Okay?
I'll read the whole sentence.
"He dresses himself in an old black frock coat, usually several buttons missing."
Now, if you remember what I was saying about trying to speak in clipped tones, then we
have a good opportunity to do it with words like "buttons".
It's quite a satisfying noise.
"Buttons".
Okay.
And that would be a bit different for me because I would say "butchins", or I guess it is kind
of similar.
"Butchins"?
"Butchins", yeah.
Okay.
So maybe similar with this word.
What about "coat"?
"Coat".
Okay.
I'm just wondering if there's a bit of a difference in the vowel, there.
It's a sort of different shape in the mouth, I find, that...
Well, actually, especially with you guys in Canada, there's a difference between American
English and Canadian English, where the "u" sound is much more prominent in Canadian.
How do you say "about"?
"Aboot"?
No, no, no, no, no.
Sorry.
So that is a Canadian stereotype.
We don't say "aboot", but we do have a different way to say "about".
So there's more of a rounding there, I say "about", which is different from my American
friends and my British friends.
How would you say "about"?
"About".
Okay.
"About".
Yeah.
Whereas, it's more kind of two different vowel sounds, a diphthong, "aboot", "aboot".
"About".
Got that one?
Yes.
Have a little practice.
Well, Emma, it's been a real joy to have you here sharing your thoughts about the transatlantic
differences in our accents, and, you know, Emma has a fantastic channel where there are
tons and tons of really useful videos there to help you guys with your English.
So do head over there and subscribe to her channel.
Hope you have got lots out of this video, entertainment, if nothing else, and do give
the quiz a go now just to try and remember some of the things we have said.
If you're not a subscriber of mine, you can do that, be my guest, and get the notifications
with that bell shape, and we'll see you very soon.
There's going to be a video on Emma's channel where I am speaking with her about some of
the more cultural differences between North American life and British life.